The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries should maintain oil production levels when it meets next month in Vienna, Iraq"s oil minister said today.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries should maintain oil production levels when it meets next month in Vienna, Iraq"s oil minister said today. There is ?still room for improvement? in oil prices, trading around $74 a barrel in New York today, Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said. OPEC, responsible for 40 percent of global crude supplies, will meet on Sept. 9 to review the impact of record production cuts announced last year.
?There"s plenty of oil in the market and there"s no need for OPEC countries to consider production beyond the level they are producing today,? al-Shahristani said in an interview in Istanbul at the launch of Iraq"s second oilfield bidding round.
Iraq is the only nation among OPEC"s 12 members to be exempt from the group"s output quota, which stands at 24.845 million barrels a day. The 11 countries bound by that ceiling collectively pumped 26.035 million barrels a day last month, giving a compliance rate of 72 percent with their agreed cuts.
Oil prices, though 36 percent lower than a year ago, still allow growth in production from non-OPEC regions, al-Shahristani added.
?We think the level of the production now just meets the demand,? al-Shahristani said. ?As a matter of fact the production is slightly higher than the demand. Perhaps we should keep it at that level.?
On Aug. 19 the oil minister of OPEC member Kuwait, Sheikh Ahmed al-Abdullah al-Sabah, recommended keeping the existing output target steady as prices are ?not too bad.? Saudi Arabia, the group"s largest member and de facto leader, has yet to express an opinion about next month"s meeting.
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