3/26/98 Norway Weighs Cuts In Oil Output But Won't Attend OPEC Meeting
OSLO -(Dow Jones)- Norway, the world's second-largest exporter of oil, said it is still considering production cutbacks, an official at the Norwegian oil and energy ministry told Dow Jones Thursday.
Tore Sandvold, director general of the ministry's oil and gas department, also said Norway won't be attending the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries meeting in Vienna Monday where ministers are expected to seek deeper production cuts than those already pledged.
Mexico and OPEC members Venezuela and Saudi Arabia have agreed to withdraw 600,000 barrels a day of crude from the world market as part of an effort to reduce the world's oil supply by 1.6 million to two million barrels a day. Several other producers also said they would cut output to stem the slide in global crude prices. Depressed by overproduction and weak demand, crude-oil prices have fallen more than 25% since October, hitting a nine-year low earlier this month.
Crude prices have rallied since the anouncement of the production cutbacks.
Sandvold said Norway is still open to cutting production, but will take action on its own. Herman Franssen, president of International Energy Associates in Chevy Chase, Md., recently told The Wall Street Journal that oil prices could move higher if Norway agrees to reduce its output.
Norway, which like Mexico is not a member of OPEC, has attended some OPEC meetings in the past, but in a low-key and informal capacity, according to Sandvold.
Norway produces about 3.2 million barrels of crude oil a day. |
