Fair use for educational/research purposes only!

UPDATE 1-Qatar's oil minister warns of oil price war-WAM (Adds more quotes, background)

ABU DHABI, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah was quoted on Monday as saying that a price war might erupt if crude producers within and outside OPEC were unable to agree on an output cut.

The official UAE news agency WAM also quoted Attiyah, who arrived in Abu Dhabi to attend a privatisation conference, as saying he backs cutting output by one million barrels per day (bpd) by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

"I am worried that a 'price war' may erupt," WAM quoted Attiyah as saying. "He said this could happen if producers within OPEC and outside did not cooperate to achieve balance and stability in the market," WAM added.

"He also asserted that he supports an OPEC output cut of one million bpd and urges other countries to ccoperate," WAM said. Attiyah said that he believed the figure of one million bpd was the excess amount above world consumption at the present time.

OPEC oil ministers are due to meet in Vienna on November 14 to discuss a production cut to revive the flagging market. OPEC Secretary-General Ali Rodriguez said on Monday the cartel may consider a reduction in crude production of more than the widely touted one million bpd following last week's renewed slide in oil prices.

Attiyah said OPEC states were holding bilateral contacts on a final figure, but added that the one million figure "was closer to reality" to restore balance to the market, according to WAM.

The minister said that cooperation between producers from OPEC and from outside was crucial so that the cartel would not lose its market share.

"The Qatari minister said that some states from outside OPEC should cut production while others should fix production at present levels," WAM said, without naming any country.

Attiyah said that OPEC was doing its best to restore stability to the oil market, but pointed out that OPEC could not act alone since its market share was below 40 percent.

He also said he believed that $25 a barrel was still the preferred price but added that the current circumstances were exceptional and that prices were being determined by the market, the agency said. ((Sami Aboudi, Gulf newsroom, +971 4 391 8301, fax +971 4 391 8335, dubai.newsroom@reuters.com))

http://www.zawya.com/banners/emirates_popup.cfm

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), November 06, 2001

Answers

This is the second or third time in how many years that they've raised only to cause world wide economic contraction and subsequent collapse in the price of oil. OPEC is run by a bunch of imbusilles!

-- Steve McClendon (ke6bjd@yahoo.com), November 06, 2001.