- Title: AUSTRIA: OPEC PRODUCERS MEET IN VIENNA
- Date: 16th March 2001
- Summary: VIENNA, AUSTRIA (MARCH 16, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. SLV MEDIA AND SECURITY OUTSIDE INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL 0.03 2. SV OF JOURNALISTS 0.07 3. SV/SLV SECURITY AROUND HOTEL (2 SHOTS) 0.15 4. MCU/SV SECRETARY GENERAL OPEC ALI RODRIGUEZ ARAQUE ARRIVING (3 SHOTS) 0.50 5. SLV CAR ARRIVING 0.55 6. MCU SECURITY 0.57 7. SV MINISTER OF ENERGY AND INDUSTRY QATAR AL ATTIYAH ABDULLAH BIN HAMAB ARRIVING (2 SHOTS) 1.18 8. SV INTERIOR OF HOTEL 1.21 9. MCU (English) RAAD ALKABIRI ANALYST WITH PETROLEUM FINANCE "It remains to be seen whether the rumours that the cuts will be higher remains the case, but there is a genuine fear among members that they've seen prices drop precipitously now over the last couple of days, and they need to have some strong headline figure as a signal to the market to change market sentiment to move it around from the bearish mood that's there right now and shift it back to being bullish again, and to do that they really need to come out with a strong message and that means a big cut". 1.56 10. SLV/SV PEOPLE IN HOTEL LOBBY (5 SHOTS) 2.08 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 31st March 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: VIENNA, AUSTRIA
- Country: Austria
- Reuters ID: LVA2IR4F7JZN4R6G6NY3UB9YZP3E
- Story Text: OPEC producers met on Friday to restrain exports for
the second time this year and appeared ready to slice supplies
at the top end of expectations.
Ministers from the Organisation of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) talks on how much crude they need
to withdraw from world markets to restore oil to $25 a barrel.
Insiders said mounting concerns about failing petroleum
demand and this week's fall in oil prices meant the group
might push through a cut at one million barrels daily or more
-- tougher action than had been anticipated.
OPEC's final decision will depend on how far cartel
kingpin Saudi Arabia is willing to go.
Delegates said the influential Saudi camp originally had
sought a modest 700,000 bpd cut, but now was prepared to back
something close to one million bpd, or slightly more.
Small producers like Algeria and Indonesia are pressing
for an aggressive cut of 1.5 million barrels daily.
Moderate members, though, are mindful not to choke off
demand by hurting economic growth among importing nations by
pushing prices too high.
OPEC curtailed supplies by 1.5 million bpd in January to
counter a downturn in demand at the end of the northern
hemisphere winter. Now, it fears a worldwide economic slowdown
will further eat into petroleum consumption.
Producers have been rattled by a sharp fall in oil prices
this week that came despite cartel assurances that another
output reduction was in the pipeline.
OPEC is also worried about growing export levels from
Iraq, outside the group's quota system under United Nations
sanctions, that only allow U.N.-monitored oil sales.
Baghdad says it is planning to lift exports under the U.N.
programme back towards two million bpd this month from 1.3
million in February. But it also has been smuggling increased
volumes, in particular to Syria through a recently refurbished
pipeline.
Producers must take account of failing demand growth this
year because of the deteriorating economic performance in the
United States and its impact among other oil importing
nations.
The International Energy Agency, the body that represents
petroleum consuming nations, has cut its growth estimate for
2001, in a series of revisions, by 460,000 bpd to just 1.4
million bpd.
The IEA says OPEC policy that has kept the heat under oil
prices for the past year is in part to blame for the downturn
in economic, and petroleum demand, growth.
Crude hit a 10-year high of $35 for Brent last year
sending consumer country energy bills rocketing.
But OPEC says the West enjoyed cheap oil for too long
during the 1990s and that its first priority is to protect
precious cartel export revenues.
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