GERMANY: SPECULATION RISES OVER THE POSSIBILITY OF A QUICK RESPONSE BY OPEC TO A NINE-DAY SLUMP ON THE WORLD CRUDE MARKET

Record ID: 648844

  • Title: GERMANY: SPECULATION RISES OVER THE POSSIBILITY OF A QUICK RESPONSE BY OPEC TO A NINE-DAY SLUMP ON THE WORLD CRUDE MARKET
  • Date: 20th July 2001
  • Summary: BONN, GERMANY (JULY 20, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR OF BUILDING 0.04 2. SV NEWS CONFERENCE (2 SHOTS) 0.15 3. MCU (English) SAUDI OIL MINISTER ALI AL-NAIMI SAYING "There is definitely a negative impact as a result of the measures that will be taken to reduce CO2 (carbon dioxide) which are definitely biased against petroleum" 0.33 4. LV NEWS CONFERENCE 0.38 5. MCU (English) OPEC SECRETARY-GENERAL AL RODRIGUEZ OF VENEZUELA SAYING "Now we are (indistinct) day by day the development of the market and of course we are ready to take the decision, the necessary decisions you know to maintain the stability, even before September" 0.56 6. SLV/SV NEWS CONFERENCE (2 SHOTS) 1.05 7. MCU (English) NIGERIA'S OPEC REPRESENTATIVE, RILWANU LUKMAN, SAYING "The statute is very clear. The president of our conference in consultation with the secretary-general is empowered to call for an emergency meeting any time he deems necessary. If he feels that tomorrow we should have an emergency meeting because something has happened that needs urgent immediate attention he will call for an emergency meeting. So we can hold emergency meetings any time. Maybe tomorrow. That's number one. Number two, the cuts, as the Saudi minister has said and the secretary-general has told us, that we stand ready and prepared to cut production by any amount that is necessary, when necessary to bring the market back into balance. And our aim is to make the market stable and we are ready to do whatever it takes to maintain the markets stable. What you're asking us is to tell you how much we are going to cut and when we are going to cut and that is not a fair question to ask" 2.03 8. MCU/LV CAMERAMAN/NEWS CONFERENCE (2 SHOTS) 2.13 9. MCU (English) SAUDI MINISTER AL-NAIMI SAYING: "The reason the decision now is grave is that all sources of information are leading us to believe that we are heading to a crisis that demand is diminishing, the supply is excessive and therefore if OPEC needs to maintain its band then it should take drastic action to cut production. Now we are ready to do so, but we want to be sure that when we do that, that we do not create another crisis and misread what we are being told" 2.57 10. SV/LV NEWS CONFERENCE (2 SHOTS) 3.08 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 4th August 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BONN, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Reuters ID: LVA7BCHO6WGA823WZPU2C9VUCTAR
  • Story Text: Oil prices have firmed as speculation rises over the
    possibility of a quick response by OPEC to a nine-day slump on
    the world crude market.



    Traders said news of a meeting between three key OPEC
    players early on Friday (July 20) morning had bolstered prices
    that have posted near three dollar losses since the close on
    July 4.

    London Brent blend hit a high of 24.75 dollars a barrel,
    but gave back most of the gains after comments from Nigeria's
    OPEC representative, Rilwanu Lukman.

    Brent by 0935 GMT was trading up 28 cents at 24.33 a
    barrel and U.S. light crude rose 34 cents to 25.04.

    Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi held a meeting with Lukman
    and cartel Secretary-General Ali Rodriguez in Bonn on Friday
    morning.

    Afterwards Lukman played down the prospect of any
    immediate action by OPEC to prop up prices.

    "As long as the price is in the band ($22-$28) we are
    reasonably happy. It is not bad. If it gets worse we will do
    something," Lukman said.

    "We stand ready to act. We don't need people trying to
    exaggerate the situation. If the need should arise to reduce
    production we have the means to do so," he added.

    OPEC has an informal agreement to cut output by 500,000
    barrels per day (bpd) if the price of a reference basket of
    crudes falls below the bottom end of a 22-28 dollar target
    range for 10 consecutive trading days. The reference basket
    stood at 22.78 on Thursday.

    The three OPEC officials are in Germany for an
    international conference on climate change.

    The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is
    fighting to stem a price slide against a slowdown in petroleum
    consumption that has accompanied a slump in global economic
    growth, in part itself a result of two years of high oil
    prices.

    OPEC, which accounts for some two-thirds of world oil
    exports, already has turned down the taps on production twice
    this year by a total 2.5 million barrels per day.

    The group's production ceiling stands at 24.2 million bpd
    for the 10 member countries with quotas although an OPEC
    report on Friday said there was leakage above official limits
    in June of 610,000 bpd.


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