Algeria: Oil Price Worries Unjustified

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Grassroots Information Coordination Center (GICC) : One Thread

Saturday, May 13, 2000

Algeria: Oil Price Worries Unjustified

ALGIERS--Algerian Energy and Mining Minister Chakib Khelil on Saturday said U.S. worries over current oil prices were unjustified, adding that fellow OPEC members would not raise output at their next meeting in June. "Alarmist statements by some U.S. officials and certain oil analysts over a possible price crisis are not justified," Khelil told the official Algerian official news agency APS. U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said on Friday current oil prices, near $30 a barrel, were too high and urged oil producers to consider a further supply increase at their next month meeting. "It is not necessary to foresee any OPEC production increase during the next months," Khelil said, predicting that OPEC will consider adding supply only during its Sepember meeting if market conditions warranted such a move. Other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have signaled they do not plan at their June 21 meeting to add to supply increases agreed at the group's last meeting in March. Khelil said an OPEC regulation mechanism was functioning well, keeping prices within a band set by the group last March.

"The mechanism set up in March by OPEC during last meeting in Vienna is working well and OPEC members have showed real discipline because the prices are currently evolving within a band of prices they forecast for the second quarter," he said. OPEC members would automatically add or withdraw 500,000 barrels per day of oil if prices stray from a $22-$28 price band for the cartel basket of crude under the mechanism. U.S. oil prices on Friday hit $30 a barrel for the first time since OPEC's March decision to raise supply, amid lingering worries over supplies for peak gasoline demand this summer.

Richardson said he would keep close contact with oil producers and would not rule out travelling before OPEC's June meeting. He said his quiet diplomacy, a series of talks with oil producers ahead of OPEC's meeting last March, contributed then to the cartel's decision to raise output

http://www.latimes.com/wires/20000513/tCB00a1211.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), May 13, 2000


Moderation questions? read the FAQ