22:17
[Friday 23rd November, 2001]
LUKOIL against output raise if mkt unstable
MOSCOW - Russian oil companies should freeze plans to raise output by 15
million tonnes (300,000 barrels per day) in 2002 if oil markets remain unstable,
number one domestic oil firm LUKOIL said on Friday.
"If the market is not stable we need to cut production," LUKOIL Vice
President Leonid Fedun told a news conference.
He said Russian companies had planned to increase production by 15 million
tonnes or 300,000 barrels in 2002. "That means we are not increasing our
market share despite the fact that we have a full moral and physical right to do
so," he said.
Russia is under pressure from OPEC to cut output to support prices,
weakening as the global economy slows down.
But it earlier said it had decided to cut output and production by 50,000 bpd in
the fourth quarter of this year and left a further decision for any reductions in
2002 to a meeting of oil companies and the government in early December.
Fedun said the 50,000 barrels a day fourth quarter cut announced on Friday
would initially be a cut in exports because it was impossible to halt production
immediately.
"Insofar as exports affect the oil price, for now the decision was taken to cut
exports, in the near future we'll look at cutting production," he said, adding that
it takes two to three months to turn off the taps.
"Technically it is difficult to do," he said.
Fedun said a fair price for Brent was $22-$25, which could be achieved if
OPEC and non-OPEC states cut output by two million bpd.
He said each oil company would cut production proportional to its output in the
third quarter. /Reuters/
fred |
