OPEC says will not shift oil sales from dollar
Reuters, 06.08.03, 8:50 AM ET
DOHA, June 8 (Reuters) - The OPEC oil cartel will not consider switching dollar-denominated oil sales to the euro, despite the fall in the value of the U.S. currency, OPEC's President said on Sunday.
Abdullah al-Attiyah, who is also oil minister for Qatar, said the dollar's decline versus other leading currencies like the euro and the yen had hurt OPEC revenues and helped oil importing nations.
"We are facing a very difficult situation with the dollar," he told reporters in Qatar ahead of next week's Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting in the cartel member country.
"The dollar has lost 20 percent of its value against the euro. The customer is receiving a discount from us."
The euro hit a record high last week at $1.19, rising 11 percent since the start of 2003 and up 45 percent from a low of 82 cents in late 2000.
But Attiyah said there was no prospect of a change.
"We will stick with the dollar. It is very difficult to change," he said. "Assume we changed to the euro and six months later the euro fell, we would have to switch back."
Any decision by OPEC to denominate oil sales in euro, even just to European customers, would severely undermine the dollar's status as the standard currency of international trade.
OPEC meets on Wednesday with oil prices near $31 for U.S. crude, pricing the cartel's own index of crudes near the top end of its $22-$28 target range.
Attiyah said there were no proposals to adjust that target band to compensate for the lower value of its dollar oil sales.
"We have no proposal to change the band, in my opinion $25 on average is good for consumers and producers," he said. "We never seek compensation for the rate of exchange."
With Iraqi exports set to start by mid-month, but only at modest rates, the group is expected to leave production limits unchanged.
Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service |
