QATAR: OPEC agreed to curb its output by 1.2 million barrels per day

OPEC agreed on Friday (October 20, 2006) to curb its output by 1.2 million barrels per day, its first cut for more than two years, to halt a precipitous fall in prices. "In light of the foregoing and in order to ensure market stability the conference decided to reduce production by an amount of 1.2 million barrels per day from current production of about 27.5 million barrels per day to 26.3 million barrels per day effective 1st November 2006," said OPEC spokesman Omar Farouk Ibrahim. The reduction, amounting to 4.3 percent of OPEC's September production, was deeper than anticipated and the biggest since Jan. 2002. It trims OPEC output to 26.3 million bpd from Nov. 1. Some ministers said a further cut of 500,000 bpd could follow when OPEC next meets in Abuja in December, to address high fuel stocks in consumer countries, particularly the United States, and a projected drop in demand for OPEC oil in 2007. U.S. oil rose 73 cents to $59.23 on the news. In a statement issued after the meeting, OPEC expressed concern that oil supplies were far outstripping demand. "The over-supply situation and imbalance in supply/demand fundamentals have destabilized the market," it said. All 10 OPEC members subject to quotas will participate in the cut. Only Iraq, struggling to get its oil industry back on its feet after war and sanctions, is exempt. Ministers were aware their failure to speak with one voice in the two weeks leading up to the hastily arranged talks had contributed to oil's slide to $58 a barrel this week, 26 percent off its mid-July peak and near its lowest level this year. Once in Doha the group that pumps over a third of the world's oil presented a united front. Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi broke his public silence to say the world's leading exporter fully supported the plan to cut supplies and he flagged further cuts may lie ahead. "This is not the end of the road," he told Reuters. Arriving in Doha, ministers already had a pretty clear idea of their individual production cuts. There was broad acceptance that reductions must be made to real oil supplies rather than nominal quotas that have little relation to the barrels pumped. But members jealously guard their quotas that are bound up with national pride and market share. In the days before the meeting Iran and Venezuela, struggling to meet their official limits, were wary of a supply-based cut that would see them ceding market share to OPEC producers that were pumping far above quota, notably Algeria. OPEC found a middle ground on Friday. To sidestep the issue of quotas and market share, it published only a list of individual cutbacks without giving the basis for the calculation or new national limits. OPEC's biggest member Saudi Arabia, will shoulder around 32 percent of the cut, amounting to 380,000 bpd. Iran, Kuwait and Venezuela will cut at least 100,000 bpd. Analysts said OPEC's next task was to prove to the market it really was curbing supplies. Saudi Arabia said it had already notified its customers of cuts to November exports. Algeria's Khelil said a $50-$60 price range for OPEC's basket of crudes, last valued at $55.27 a barrel, would be acceptable to oil producers and consumers. That would put U.S. crude between $55-$65 -- three times its price in Jan. 2002. OPEC's official ceiling has been at 28 million bpd since July 2005. During that time output has shifted around 500,000 bpd either side of the official limit.

ITN Source | October 20, 2006

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