OPEC Oil Output And Iraq

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OPEC Oil Output And Iraq WorldNews.com, Tue 5 Dec 2000

correspondent George Diakou.

A recent report from the Emirates Industrial Bank (EIB) suggests that GCC oil revenues will have increased around 84% to $151 billion this year, compared with $82 billion dollars in 1999.

Likewise OPEC revenues, excluding Iraq, are expected to increase by around 75% to $280 billion, compared with $160 billion last year. The EIB report worked out its figures based on average oil prices and production levels. It added that November OPEC output, excluding Iraq, climbed to 30 million bpd.

Meanwhile, following the withdrawl of Iraqi oil from the world market, local media reports quote Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheikh Saud Nasser al-Sabah stating: "Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE are capable of covering the drop in oil markets after Iraq stopped its oil exports..(however)...world markets are saturated for the time being and there is no need to boost production to compensate for Iraq's quota."

Saudi Arabia, OPEC's largest producer, and the UAE are among the few cartel members who have surplus oil production capacity.

Last week reports suggested that Baghdad had insisted that consumers of its crude oil pay a 50 cents surcharge, contravening the terms of the United Nations oil-for-food programme. UN sanctions imposed on Iraq have caused extreme suffering to Iraq's civilian population and many countries now believe the sanctions should be lifted.

Meanwhile, oil prices eased slightly with news that Baghdad and the UN were hopeful of reaching a compromise over their most recent rift. Iraqi UN representative Saeed Hasan suggested that the 50 cent surcharge was purely market speculation, saying: "These are rumours this 50-cent surcharge...nothing official."

However, Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh confirmed that once oil exports restart, sales to the United States would be banned. Baghdad was exporting around 2.3 million bpd, of which around 750,000 bpd went to the US market. Prior to the present dispute, Baghdad was supplying around 9% of total US oil imports.

http://www.oil.com/?action=display&article=4708728&template=oilcom/index.txt&index=recent

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), December 05, 2000


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