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To: Ken Benes who wrote (49372)	2/21/2000 5:29:00 AM
From: Alex	Respond to of 116756

Opec set to resist US calls to lift oil output BY MARTIN BARROW OIL producers appear ready to resist intense pressure from America to lift output to head off the sharp rise in the price of crude. Members of Opec are likely to vote against an increase in output from April 1, opting instead to extend existing restrictions on oil production until September. In March 1999 oil producers decided to cut output by a total of 2.1 million barrels per day, of which Opec accounted for 1.7 million. This is in spite of calls from large industrial nations, led by the US, for Opec to produce more oil, in the hope that this would bring crude prices down from their ten-year highs of about $30 per barrel. Yesterday senior Opec officials said the organisation believed the price of oil was likely to come down of its own accord now the peak season for winter demand in the northern hemisphere was drawing to a close. Gulf states expect Opec crude to trade at about $25 per barrel by the end of March, well below the current price but at the top end of Opec's preferred price range of between $20 and $25. An Opec official said: "If the price of the Opec reference basket is $25 in March, we will not increase production. "At present, there is no agreement to increase production. Given the situation on the market and from a strictly technical point of view, we are leaning toward a renewal of the production ceiling until September 2000." If September prices remain at $25, Gulf states would support an increase in production ahead of next winter to meet the anticipated rise in demand. Gulf oil exporters are due to meet in Riyadh on Wednesday to discuss the situation in the market, and the consensus view is likely to be that prices are at an acceptable level, as far as Opec is concerned. Leading industrial nations have expressed concern at the rise in oil prices over the past year, mainly because of the inflationary threat. In South-East Asia the fear is that higher oil prices will choke off the economic recovery after the financial crisis of the late 1990s. Japan and South Korea, Asia's two economic powers, both rely heavily on imported oil. Bill Richardson, the US Energy Secretary, is due in Saudi Arabia next weekend on a tour of the main oil producing nations. Mr Richardson, who has previously expressed disquiet at the level of oil prices, has faced calls in America for the US Government to draw down oil from strategic reserves in an attempt to bring down prices. the-times.co.uk