- Title: AUSTRIA: OPEC MINISTERS AGREE TO TIGHTER CURBS ON OIL SUPPLY.
- Date: 1st April 2004
- Summary: (W5) VIENNA, AUSTRIA (MARCH 31, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. CU: OPEC SIGN AT HEADQUARTERS 0.03 2. GV/PAN: SAUDI ARABIAN OIL MINISTER ALI NAIMI WALKING IN TO OPEC HEADQUARTERS 0.08 3. GV/MV/PAN: IRAQI OIL MINSTER IBRAHIM BAHR AL-ULUM GETTING OUT OF CAR, WALKING INTO BUILDING (2 SHOTS) 0.24 4. MV: ARMED SECURITY GUARDS IN FRONT OF BUILDING 0.26 5. GV: ALGERIAN OIL MINISTER CHAKIB KHELIL ENTERING HEADQUARTERS 0.35 6. GV/PAN: VENEZUELAN ENERGY AND MINES MINISTER RAFAEL RAMIREZ WALKING INTO OPEC HEADQUARTERS 0.50 7. GV/PAN: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES OIL MINISTER OBAID BIN SAIF AL-NASSERI GETTING OUT OF CAR, WALKING INTO BUILDING 0.55 8. MV: ARMED SECURITY IN FRONT OF BUILDING 1.00 (W5) GRAPHICS (MARCH 31, 2004) (REUTERS) 9. (MUTE) CHART OF BRENT OIL PRICE (W6) VIENNA, AUSTRIA (MARCH 31, 2004) (REUTERS) 10. CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS 11. VARIOUS OF MINISTERS AND DELEGATES SEATED AROUND CONFERENCE TABLE 12. REPORTERS LOOKING AT VIDEO SCREEN SHOWING CONFERENCE 13. REPORTERS INSIDE CONFERENCE ROOM INTERVIEWING MINISTERS 14. (SOUNDBITE) (English) IRANIAN OIL MINISTER NAMDAR ZANGENEH SAYING: "We discussed and we confirmed our previous decision for reducing our production on April first another one million barrels, per day." 15. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES OIL MINISTER SURROUNDED BY REPORTERS 16. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNITED ARAB EMIRATES OIL MINISTER OBAD AL-NASSERI SAYING: "No producer would like to see the prices down, this is clear. But, what we want to make sure is that the price is in a fair limit because our problem is the purchasing power now. Our revenue is less by 20 or 30 percent even." 17. (SOUNDBITE) (English) [REPORTER ASKING: BECAUSE OF THE DOLLAR?] UNITED ARAB EMIRATES OIL MINISTER SAYING: "Yes, because of the dollar. If you calculate now even 40 dollar and reduce 30 percent of that by, it will be 32 dollars, or even 30". 18. WIDE OF MINISTERS AND REPORTERS 19. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAUDI ARABIA OIL MINISTER ALI NAIMI SAYING: "There were no statements that Saudi Arabia was leading anybody to anywhere. This was a misinterpretation by the media, we have seen it on TV, we have seen it everywhere and I think that is not contributing to the stability of the oil market." 20. WIDE OF CONFERENCE ROOM 21. SAUDI ARABIAN DELEGATION AT TABLE 22. WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE 23. (SOUNDBITE) (English) OPEC PRESIDENT PURNOMO YUSSGIANTORO SAYING: "So our decision today is in order to, 1 stabilize the oil prices and the 2nd - really to stabilize the oil market in order to get enough supply in the market as we learned from the past five years. So we believe our decision is right and we are going to cut tomorrow by one million barrels a day and put discipline among member countries to adhere with the quota." 24. REPORTERS AT NEWS CONFERENCE 25. WIDE OF SPEAKER PODIUM WITH REPORTERS IN FRONT 4.21 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 16th April 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: VIENNA, AUSTRIA
- Country: Austria
- Reuters ID: LVA3GXIEZ22TUK96GAMVPUAT9CUB
- Story Text: OPEC has forged ahead with tighter oil supply curbs
from April, deaf to consumer country complaints about crude
prices close to 13-year highs.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) agreed on Wednesday (March 31) to turn
down the taps despite calls from the United States for
cheaper fuel.
The Bush administration, in an election year, had
pressed OPEC to lift export restrictions to help control
U.S. pump prices and prevent energy inflation slowing
economic growth.
Cartel powerhouse Saudi Arabia led the push for
implementing cuts of one million barrels a day or four
percent from April 1, as first agreed in Algiers in
February.
Benchmark U.S. crude added two cents to $36.27 U.S.
dollars a barrel and found support from a new all-time high
on the New York Mercantile Exchanges gasoline contract of
$1.1775 a gallon.
OPEC blames speculative investment funds, now
commanding record positions on energy contracts, for this
years oil price spike.
The UAE Oil Minister Obad Al-Nasseri told Reuters they
wanted to make sure the price was fair.
"No producer would like to see the prices down, this is
clear. But, what we want to make sure is that the price is
in a fair limit because our problem is the purchasing power
now. Our revenue is less by 20 or 30 percent even,"
Al-Nasseri said.
Saudi Arabia's regional Gulf allies Kuwait and the
United Arab Emirates had recommended OPEC consider delaying
tighter output restrictions to allow oil prices to cool.
But the Saudi Arabia Oil Minister Ali Naimi strongly
denied this on Wednesday after the conference.
"There were no statements that Saudi Arabia was leading
anybody to anywhere. This was a misinterpretation by the
media, we have seen it on TV, we have seen it everywhere
and I think that is not contributing to the stability of
the oil market," he said.
The split in ranks of OPECs core Gulf membership raised
speculation that the United States is now targeting Kuwait
and the UAE, instead of Saudi, for diplomatic efforts aimed
at getting lower prices.
Delegates said that to meet Kuwaiti and UAE concerns it
was privately acknowledged by Saudi that actual supplies
would not be cut much more in April, unless oil prices
fall.
Despite a ritual call from ministers for full adherence
to quotas, the behind-the-scenes appears to be a less than
rigorous requirement to immediately meet new limits.
Saudi and a few other OPEC countries have already
ordered slightly lower April volumes, moving down towards
the new combined limit of 23.5 million barrels daily.
But Reuters estimates from a survey of OPEC customers
are that actual supplies are likely to drop by only about a
third of the planned million barrel a day cut.
On top of that the group is estimated leaking more than
a million barrels daily above existing March quota limits
of 24.5 million bpd.
"So our decision today is in order to, 1. stabilize the
oil prices and the 2nd - really to stabilize the oil market
in order to get enough supply in the market as we learned
from the past five years. So we believe our decision is
right and we are going to cut tomorrow by one million
barrels a day and put discipline among member countries to
adhere with the quota," OPEC President Purnomo Yussgiantoro
told a news conference on Wednesday.
OPEC needed to cut production from April in order to
stabilize the market and the prices.
We believe our decision is right and we are going to
cut tomorrow by one million barrels a day and put
discipline among member countries to adhere with the quota,
he added.
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