BAHRAIN: SAUDI ARABIA AND ITS PARTNERS IN THE SIX-MEMBER GCC CALL FOR OIL OUTPUT CUTS AT OPEC'S NEXT MEETING

Record ID: 189585

  • Title: BAHRAIN: SAUDI ARABIA AND ITS PARTNERS IN THE SIX-MEMBER GCC CALL FOR OIL OUTPUT CUTS AT OPEC'S NEXT MEETING
  • Date: 31st December 2000
  • Summary: MANAM BAHRAIN (DECEMBER 31, 2000) (REUTERS ACCESS ALL) 1. LV/SLV STREET SCENES IN MANAM/POSTERS IN STREET (2 SHOTS) 0.09 2. SLV ROYAL MERIDIAN HOTEL 0.12 3. SV LEADERS WALKING TO HALL (2 SHOTS) 0.21 4. LV/SLV/SV OF LEADERS AROUND TABLE (4 SHOTS) 0.41 5. LV PRESS CONFERENCE BY BAHRAINI FOREIGN MINISTER SHEIKH MOHAMMED BIN MUBARAK AL-KHALIFAH 0.46 6. MCU (English) BAHRAINI FOREIGN MINISTER SHEIKH MOHAMMED BIN MUBARAK AL KHALIFAH SAYING: "In our communiqué we mention that we believe what OPEC (Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries) has agreed on is the policy of the GCC. I believe they spoke during the OPEC conference and that prices should range from 22-28 U.S. dollars per barrel. I believe this is a formula that they have accepted and that the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) will stick to the OPEC agreement". 1.21 7. SLV PRESS CONFERENCE 1.25 8. MCU (Arabic) SHEIKH MOHAMMED BIN MUBARAK AL-KHALIFAH SAYING: "I believe that the biggest success in the GCC is the legislation of the military cooperation agreement between the countries of the GCC which happened this morning. We are very pleased with that". 1.37 9. MCU SHEIKH MOHAMMED BIN MUBARAK AL KHALIFAH WALKS THROUGH CORRIDOR 1.40 10. MCU (English) SHEIKH MOHAMMED BIN MUBARAK AL KHALIFAH SAYING: "We just wanted to apply the U.N. resolution especially concerning the release of the Kuwaiti prisoners and also to change its policies towards closure in case of confrontation we want cooperation and the U.N. resolution is a basic issue to have normalisation in the area". 2.22 11. SLV/SV CARS IN STREET/FLAGS (2 SHOTS) 2.30 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 15th January 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MANAM, BAHRAIN
  • Country: Bahrain
  • Reuters ID: LVA6P3TUTVIMP0XDLE3U3FI4STVC
  • Story Text: Saudi Arabia and its partners in the six-member Gulf
    Cooperation Council (GCC) have called for oil output cuts at
    OPEC's next meeting on January 17 to shore up prices.

    The leaders also signed a long-delayed mutual defence pact
    to fend off potential external attacks, but softened anti-Iraq
    rhetoric.



    Leaders of six oil-rich Gulf Arab states on Sunday
    (December 31) signed a long-delayed mutual defence pact to
    fend off potential external attacks, but softened anti-Iraq
    rhetoric.

    The pact calls for the defence resources of Gulf
    Cooperation Council (GGC) members Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the
    United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar to be pooled.

    The six sit on over half of the world's oil reserves.

    "This is the most important agreement signed by the GCC
    because for the first time it puts a legal framework to this
    type of cooperation," Bahrain's Foreign Minister Sheikh
    Mohammed bin Mubarak al-Khalifa told a news conference after
    the summit.

    Officials said the pact by the GCC, which failed to defend
    fellow member Kuwait when it was invaded by Iraq a decade ago,
    would pave the way for a rapid deployment force to deter
    aggression.

    It also stipulates that an attack on any member would be
    considered as an attack against all GCC states.

    The Saudi-led GCC countries, which rely on the United
    States and other Western powers for their defence, have spent
    billions of dollars to boost their armies since Iraq's 1990
    invasion of Kuwait.

    After the two-day meeting, the council called for oil
    output cuts at OPEC's next meeting on January 17 to shore up
    prices.

    The final communiqué said the leaders also asked their oil
    ministers to take any other steps necessary to achieve the
    cartel's targeted prices of 25 U.S. dollars a barrel.

    Delegates said earlier that the leaders had held intensive
    talks about the current oil market during the summit and
    expressed concern about the recent slide in oil prices.

    But the delegates, familiar with OPEC oil policies, said
    it was too early to talk about specific figures for the
    planned output curbs.

    Oil prices have dropped some 30 per cent below their
    mid-October peak and are currently in the lower range of
    OPEC's 22-28 U.S. dollar a barrel price band, prompting calls
    by some cartel members for output curbs to avoid a sharp fall
    in prices at the end of the first quarter when peak winter
    demand dwindles.

    The final communiqué did not include the routine strong
    condemnation of Iraq that has appeared in GCC statements since
    the Iraqi invasion.

    It urged Baghdad to open "a comprehensive dialogue" with
    the U.N. Security Council to eliminate its weapons of mass
    destruction in a way that would lead to the lifting of
    sanctions imposed on Iraq since 1990.

    Earlier GCC statements have regularly blamed Iraqi
    President Saddam Hussein and his regime for his country's
    isolation.

    Delegates said the softened language was a compromise
    between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, which wanted to maintain the
    crippling U.N. sanctions until Iraq obeyed all Security
    Council resolutions, and the UAE and Qatar, which called for
    their end.



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