- Title: INDONESIA: OPEC PRESIDENT SAYS LEAKING OIL HELPS CONTAIN HIGH PRICES.
- Date: 8th January 2004
- Summary: JAKARTA, INDONESIA (JANUARY 8, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. OPEC PRESIDENT AND INDONESIA'S ENERGY MINISTER, PURNOMO YUSGIANTORO, TAKING SEAT FOR INTERVIEW 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) OPEC PRESIDENT PURNOMO YUSGIANTORO SAYING: "I think for us the important thing is the price stability. You know, quota at 24.5 is our general commitment but the member countries, you know, are fully aware when it is really necessary to get stablilisation in the oil market like this is what happened now Question: So there is no real problem with some oils being leaked to help keep prices low? "Well, that is the name of the game, the price stabilisation." 3. CLOSE-UP OF HAND 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) OPEC PRESIDENT PURNOMO YUSGIANTORO SAYING: "I would say it's really too early to say. A lot of analysts said that OPEC will meet in Algiers to cut the production but I would not say that yet. Unless I really have the exact figures what is really the situation, our forecast for Spring. Usually before the meeting we will have the ministerial monitoring sub-committee meeting and we would like to have that report first from them." 5. WIDE OF INTERVIEW 6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) OPEC PRESIDENT PURNOMO YUSGIANTORO SAYING: "Well, this what I convey to you. Price high is today but when you are closing, approaching the month of March we will expect the price will be slightly down and down because of slower demand because of the inventory now filled up already." 1.59 7. GV: EXTERIOR OF INDONESIAN OIL MINISTRY 2.04 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 23rd January 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: JAKARTA, INDONESIA
- Country: Indonesia
- Reuters ID: LVAB6J2LIQTSDXONWGCHEOQMDKV4
- Story Text: OPEC president says leaking extra oil helps contain
high prices.
OPEC President said in an interview on Thursday
(January 8) that the organisation is leaking extra oil
supplies to contain high prices.
"I think for us the important thing is the price
stability. You know, quota at 24.5 is our general
commitment but the member countries you know are fully
aware when it is really necessary to get stablilisation in
the oil market like this what happened now," Purnomo said.
Asked whether leaking extra oil supplies causes any
real problem, Purnomo said: "Well that is the name of the
game, the price stabilisation."
Supply leaks by OPEC over official output quotas were
instead helping to contain the market and that crude should
fall as northern hemisphere winter demand ebbs, Purnomo
said.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
also faces a dilemma at a meeting next month when it may
need to cut production quotas to counteract a seasonal fall
in demand.
High world oil prices, however, could make such a move
politically difficult, drawing criticism from major
importing nations like the United States.
Purnomo, Indonesia's oil minister, said it was too
early to judge whether or not lower supplies would be
needed then to balance lower second-quarter demand.
"I would say it's really too early to say. A lot of
analysts said that OPEC will meet in Algiers to cut the
production but I would not say that yet. Unless I really
have the exact figures what is really the situation, our
forecast for Spring."
"Usually before the meeting we will have the
ministerial monitoring sub-committee meeting and we would
like to have that report first from them," Purnomo said,
adding that OPEC's Vienna-based secretariat is currently in
the process of re-evaluating world crude supply-demand
projections ahead of the February 10 meeting.
OPEC's reference basket was last valued at $30.33, well
above its official target range of $22-$28 a barrel.
Benchmark U.S. crude futures traded on Thursday at $33.57 a
barrel after hitting a nine-month high this week of $34.35.
Washington questioned OPEC policy last month after the
cartel said high prices were justified by the weakness of
the U.S. dollar, the currency of world oil trade, which had
hurt producers' purchasing power.
"Well, this what I convey to you. Price high is today
but when you are closing, approaching the month of March we
will expect the price will be slightly down and down
because of slower demand because of the inventory now
filled up already," Purnomo said.
The U.S. government said on Wednesday it estimated OPEC
in December pumped 1.55 million barrels a day above an
official limit of 24.5 million bpd.
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