Economy & Business: Africa Oil prices ease ..........LONDON (March 3) : Crude oil prices eased slightly on Thursday to just under post-Gulf War highs as ministers from three leading producer countries met to discuss future oil output policy under pressure from the West to calm prices.

..........Ministers from major producers Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Mexico were meeting in London to discuss how to ease the supply limits they masterminded a year ago, which have drained world oil stocks and trebled prices. ..........The producers have come under increasing fire from the United States, the world's biggest oil consumer, as US crude prices raced to $31.50 a level unseen since the crisis over Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

..........Global benchmark Brent blend for April delivery hit a nine-year high of $29.14 per barrel on Wednesday, driven up by fears over a shortage of gasoline in the run-up to the summer in the United States, when motorists take to the roads for their holidays.

..........Prices were down about 50 cents on Thursday as speculators banked their profits and after Iraq said it would keep exporting oil after reaching the $5.26 billion limit under the current phase of sales under UN sanctions.

..........Delegates from Opec have said the producers meeting in London are set to propose that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries raises output by 1.2 million barrels per day from April 1, and would consider the release of an additional 500,000 bpd if prices did not fall too sharply. ..........The plan would also see Mexico, which is not a member of the Opec raising production by 90,000 bpd.

..........PROPOSAL SEES $25 TARGET FOR US CRUDE ..........The delegates said the proposal was aimed at bringing US crude prices back down to around $25. On Thursday they were hovering around $31.31 a barrel in out-of-hours trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex).

..........But Venezuelan Oil Minister Ali Rodriguez on Wednesday denied the reports, saying he and his counterparts from Mexico and Saudi Arabia had not discussed that figure. ..........Opec is under intense pressure from major customers to significantly raise production after March to replenish eroded stocks and cool down the market, which has seen retail gasoline prices hit new highs in the United States a major political issue in an election year.

..........But some analysts feel that even if Opec raised production by the 1.2 million bpd figure reported, it would not be enough to quickly replace stocks which have fallen to historical low levels as a result of the export cuts.

..........US Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said on Wednesday that based on information he presented to the producers, Opec would make a decision at its March 27 meeting to boost production quickly.

.........."We believe this analysis will lead to only one conclusion as the ministers meet on March 27 there should be substantial and timely increases in production," he said in a statement.

..........His comments were made just after completion of a 12-day tour of major producers, where he was assured by countries such as Saudi Arabia of their commitment to supply security.--Reuters

http://www.brecorder.com/story/S0051/S5111/S5111104.htm

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), March 03, 2000

Answers

The only comment i'll make is that if the price of gasoline doesn't come down soon I do believe you all know what's going to happen.

ELECTRIC AUTOS

-- Carl Suhr (cnbsuhr@localaccess.com), March 04, 2000.