UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: OPEC says oil exports to remain the same despite calls from some countries for change

OPEC (The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) agreed on Wednesday (December 5) to keep exports unchanged, rebuffing calls by consumer countries for more crude to rein in barrels at 90 U.S. dollars a time. OPEC justified the deal on its assessment that it is already pumping enough crude to meet winter fuel demand after a September decision to lift output. "There is no reason for the price to go high because we have enough stocks," said cartel Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri. "There is no reason whatsoever for prices to go up to a hundred dollars." OPEC meets again on February 1 to review policy, by which time it may be facing renewed calls to help stifle inflated energy costs as its biggest importer, the United States, struggles to maintain economic growth. U.S. crude rose one dollar to 89.40 U.S. dollars a barrel and analysts said prices could make further gains back toward November's record highs above 99 U.S. dollars. Some in OPEC share the concerns of many consumer countries about the impact of high energy costs on economic growth as the U.S. slowdown threatens to spill over into the global economy. But ministers argued that they cannot control prices because speculators have divorced prices from market fundamentals. Producers also point to a decline in the value of the U.S. dollar which makes a dollar-denominated oil price rise less painful in non-dollar economies and devalues OPEC's purchasing power. OPEC also set output targets for its new members Angola and Ecuador at 9 million barrels a day and 520,000 barrels a day respectively. That puts output for 12 members with official quotas at 29.67 million barrels a day, excluding Iraq, the only member not bound by a quota.

ITN Source | December 5, 2007

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