Monday June 8, 3:50 pm Eastern Time
Mexico's Tellez said Iran, Libya support oil cuts
MEXICO CITY, June 8 (Reuters) - Mexico's oil minister said on Monday that Iran and Libya would support the latest round
of production cuts, though he did not say if they had pledged specific cuts from their own production.
Luis Tellez, referring to last week's agreement by Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela to cut 450,000 barrels per day (bpd)
from their crude exports, said ''we have had the support of some other countries from OPEC, such as Qatar, Iran and Libya.''
Over the weekend, Qatar's oil minister said his country would join the latest round of cuts by slicing another 20,000 bpd from
production starting July 1.
Tellez made his comments after speaking at a conference sponsored by Mexico and other governments on ethanol, an
agricultural-based substitute for crude oil. He did not take questions after his speech.
In announcing their agreement in Amsterdam last week, the three countries said they would seek cuts from other producers,
both from within and outside of OPEC. In March, the three agreed the so-called ''Riyadh Pact'' which eventually led to OPEC
and non-OPEC cuts of 1.5 million bpd.
Oil prices rose from a 10-year low after the Riyadh deal but have subsequently sunk again as worldwide oil inventories
continued to rise in April and May.
Tellez said Monday that Norway ''supports'' the current round, though he explained that they would not make further cuts as
they were expecting production to run below forecast this year. Norway pledged to cut 100,000 bpd in the spring round of
cuts. |
