- Title: AUSTRIA: OPEC AGREES ON TIGHTER OIL SUPPLY CURBS DESPITE PRICE SPIKE
- Date: 31st March 2004
- Summary: (W5)VIENNA, AUSTRIA (MARCH 31, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SV OPEC HEADQUARTER 0.04 2. SLV SAUDI ARABIAN OIL MINISTER ALI NAIMI WALKING IN TO OPEC HEADQUARTERS 0.08 3. SLV/SV IRAQI OIL MINSTER IBRAHIM BAHR AL-ULUM GETTING OUT OF CAR, WALKING INTO BUILDING (2 SHOTS) 0.24 4. SV ARMED SECURITY GUARDS IN FRONT OF BUILDING 0.27 5. SV ALGERIAN OIL MINISTER CHAKIB KHELIL ENTERING HEADQUARTERS 0.36 6. SV VENEZUELAN ENERGY AND MINES MINISTER RAFAEL RAMIREZ WALKING INTO OPEC HEADQUARTERS 0.50 7. SLV CARS/UNITED ARAB EMIRATES OIL MINISTER OBAID BIN SAIF AL-NASSERI GETTING OUT OF CAR, WALKING INTO BUILDING (2 SHOTS) 1.00 8. SV ARMED SECURITY IN FRONT OF BUILDING 1.05 (W5) GRAPHICS (MARCH 31, 2004) (REUTERS) 9. CU CHART OF BRENT OIL PRICE 1.14 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 15th April 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: VIENNA, AUSTRIA
- Country: Austria
- Reuters ID: LVA2FL22U74O7I6XIQ7HTOV0LBUV
- Story Text: OPEC agrees on tighter oil supply curbs despite
price spike.
OPEC oil producers on Wednesday (March 31) agreed to
endorse tighter oil supply curbs, ignoring consumer country
concerns about crude prices near 13-year highs, the Libyan
Oil Minister Fethi bin Chetwane said.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
decided to implement a deal cutting one million barrels a
day from April 1, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said.
The pact, was first arranged in Algiers in February.
Benchmark U.S. crude traded up 25 cents at $36.50 a
barrel with the New York Mercantile Exchange's gasoline
contract setting an all-time record of $1.177 a gallon.
By 1251 GMT, May Brent was trading 29 cents higher at
$32.74, still down from a $33 early high reached in
overnight trading following a surge in NYMEX gasoline that
reached record levels after a refinery fire in the U.S.
The Bush administration, in a U.S. election year, had
called on OPEC to lift output restrictions to help control
U.S. prices at the pump and prevent energy inflation
slowing economic growth.
Gulf OPEC members Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates
argued the cartel should consider deferring the April curbs
to allow prices to cool.
OPEC blames speculative investors who hold record
positions on futures exchanges in London and New York for
driving up oil prices this year.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None