The United Arab Emirates, the
fifth-biggest oil producer in OPEC, said the group won't abandon
before the end of March self-imposed output cuts which have
helped oil prices to more than double this year.
Benchmark Brent crude oil has risen to $22.50 a barrel from
less than $10 in December as 10 members of the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries and four other nations agreed to
cut world oil output by a total of about 7 percent for one year,
starting on April 1. The producers reaffirmed their commitment at
a meeting in Vienna on Sept. 22.
``OPEC will discuss production cuts at its ministerial
meeting in Vienna in March, and not now,' said the U.A.E. Oil
Minister Obeid bin Seif al-Nasseri. ``Oil prices will improve in
the remaining months of the year as demand picks up in the winter
season,' he said.
The U.A.E. official reaffirmed OPEC's commitment to output
cuts after a volatile period in the international oil markets.
Brent crude in London fell 6.3 percent on Oct. 8 on reports that
the 10 members of OPEC that pledged the cuts pumped 23.33 million
barrels a day last month, 90,000 more than a month earlier, a
Bloomberg survey said.
According to the survey, OPEC made 92 percent of its
promised oil output cuts in September, down from a revised 94
percent in August. The UAE made 100 percent of its promised cuts
in September.
Oil producers are reluctant to relieve production cuts
before removing a global oil glut that caused prices to hit a 12-
year low in December, Qatar's oil minister said.
``The world's oil reserves are still on the high side, and
constitute a threat to prices,' said Abdullah bin Hamad al-
Attiyah. ``If the present trend continues, then reserves will
witness a considerable drop over the next five months,' he said.
The American Petroleum Institute reported on Tuesday that
U.S. oil supplies fell 7.14 million barrels to 298.94 million
barrels the previous week, the lowest level since September 1997.
The drop included a 6 million-barrel decline in the Gulf Coast
region, the nation's oil refining heartland.
The oil ministers of Saudi Arabia, Iran, the U.A.E., and
Qatar are expected to meet in Tehran next month to review oil
output policy and compliance levels.
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