And now we go to Arabia for the latest scoop. It will remain to be seen how well the following will work.
Saudi, Venezuela, Mexico agree to cut oil output
Copyright c 1998 Nando.net
Copyright c 1998 Agence France-Presse
RIYADH (March 22, 1998 10:06 a.m. EST
nando.net) - Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and
Mexico decided Sunday to work together to try to cut
world oil output by up to two million barrels a day, the
three countries announced in a joint statement.
The Saudi oil ministry said the kingdom would cut its
own output by 300,000 bpd from April 1 until the end
of the year.
The joint statement, meanwhile, was issued at the
end of a previously unannounced two-day meeting in
Riyadh of the oil ministers of Saudi Arabia,
Venezuela and Mexico.
The ministers "decided that their countries will take
part with other member states of OPEC and
producers outside OPEC in a reduction of the
excess on the oil market by a volume of between 1.6
and two million bpd," it said.
"To reach this goal, several producer countries have
committed themselves to cut production by 1.1
million bpd from April 1," the statement said, without
naming the producers.
"The coming days will see an intensification of
consultations with other producers to increase the
volume of cuts," as part of efforts to stem tumbling oil
prices.
Oil prices have fallen to a nine-year low this month,
dipping below $13 barrel, on the back of
overproduction by OPEC members, a fall in demand
from Asia and a mild winter in the northern
hemisphere.
"Oil prices have sharply deteriorated over the last
three months because of the fall in demand and the
rise in output," the Saudi ministry said in its separate
statement.
"There is no doubt that a continuation of this situation
would harm producer countries and consumers
because the world market needs stability and
balance," the ministry said.
Venezuela has been one of the worst violators of production control promises, and Mexico isn't even a member of OPEC. Cooperation of non OPEC countries is key and would be a real coup. I hope Mexico can truly speak for them.
OPEC members are Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait,
Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and United
Arab Emirates.
Charles
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