Getting ready for March, March 2000? <gg>..Time to get ready is October...<gg>
10/20 0:00 Saudi Oil Minister Says Nation Has `Absolutely No Plans' to Raise Output
By Mark Pittman
Saudi Arabia Has `Absolutely No Plans' to Raise Oil Output
Houston, Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia has
``absolutely no plans' to raise oil output before the end of
March, because world inventories are still too high to justify an
increase, Oil Minister Ali Naimi said.
While crude oil futures have more than doubled from a 12-
year low in December, to about $22 a barrel, partly because of
output cuts, $2 to $4 of the increase is speculative and not
based on changes in supply or demand, Naimi told reporters after
a business luncheon in Houston.
The current round of production cuts by members of the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is due to expire on
March 31. It's ``not unreasonable' that some producers will
extend their cuts beyond then, Naimi said.
``I'm sure many of you want to know what is the right price
for oil,' Naimi told the luncheon gathering. ``I wish I knew
that. No one would agree on that, yet we all know the wrong
price.'
Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil producers, is one of
10 members of OPEC participating in the output reduction effort,
which has trimmed world supply by about 7 percent.
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