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Gold/Mining/Energy : Strictly: Drilling and oil-field services -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BigBull who wrote (72185)	9/2/2000 6:09:57 AM
From: BigBull	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Saudis may go it alone on output Resilient oil markets coasted comfortably near decade-highs today despite signs that key exporter Saudi Arabia is ready to hike output to cool prices. Oil's rally survived word yesterday that Saudi Arabia would push for more than an expected 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) cartel output hike at a meeting of the group this month. Energy inister and OPEC president Alí Rodríguez, who has blamed the current oil rally on speculators, high oil consumption taxes and refinery bottlenecks, urged consumer countries to join the fight against high prices, saying supply was not the problem. "Most analysts agree that prices could surpass $40 per barrel by the end of the year if consuming countries do not help us stabilize prices," he said earlier in the week. Expensive oil has spelt misery for worldwide transportation from airlines to truck firms, all struggling with inflated costs. An Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries delegate said the Saudi kingdom was prepared to go it alone, if other OPEC producers were unable or unwilling to unleash new supplies. The OPEC delegate said Saudi Arabia was already approaching an extra 500,000 bpd above its official OPEC quota. Any extra volumes agreed at the September meeting for October supplies would come on top of that leakage. The market remained unimpressed. "Traders do not generally believe that 0.5 million bpd will be sufficient given the recent rise in prices," a London broker said. Goldman Sachs noted in a commentary that global inventories of crude and products relative to demand on a seasonal basis were at their lowest level since the 1970s. "We continue to expect extreme price volatility will increasingly characterize the market over the next several months, with the potential for significant upward spikes in prices," it added. OPEC has already tried and failed this year to tame runaway prices with output hikes of around 2.4 million bpd. Bulls drew strength from word from industry sources that Iraq will only be able to keep current levels of export through the year and will not meet proposed increases in production. Non-OPEC Mexico, normally in favor of moderating oil price spikes, surprised observers with the bullish comment that global oil markets appeared in good shape, with no new crude needed from world producers. And Norway, another non-OPEC producer, said today that its offshore wells were already working at full capacity and it could do nothing more to increase production. vzlanet.com may go it alone on output