Venezuela says likely OPEC cut 500,000-1 mln bpd
DUBAI, March 13 (Reuters) - Venezuela's Oil Minister Alvaro
Silva said on Tuesday an output cut by OPEC was likely to be in
the range of 500,000 to one million barrels per day (bpd) and
that the cartel's meeting this week would decide the final
level.
Asked if the OPEC cut would be between 500,000 and one
million bpd, Silva told Reuters: "That might well be the right
range, but we will decide at the conference the final level of
the cut."
"We need to consider supply and demand. Our ultimate aim is
to stabilise the market," he said by telephone from the Saudi
capital Riyadh where he met Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali
al-Naimi and Mexico's Ernesto Martens on Monday night.
He would not say what level of cut Venezuela preferred, but
said that Caracas fully supported an OPEC reduction, which
would be decided at the March 16 meeting in Vienna.
Silva declined to say if non-OPEC Mexico agreed at the
Riyadh talks to cut output along with OPEC, but reiterated the
trio's promise to work together to achieve market stability.
OPEC curbed output by 1.5 million bpd in February to avoid
a supply glut in the second quarter when demand usually tails
off at the end of the northern hemisphere winter.
Now it is worried signs of an economic slowdown across the
globe, especially in the world's biggest energy market -- the
United States, will further reduce demand for petroleum.
((Gulf newsroom, +971 4 2627918, fax +971 4 2626982,
dubai.newsroom@reuters.com))
REUTERS
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