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To: Gameboy who wrote (21759)	5/10/1998 10:32:00 AM
From: murthy a	Respond to of 95453

Sunday May 10 8:05 AM EDT OPEC oil ministers to consult on low prices By Issam Hamza DAMASCUS, Syria (Reuters) - Oil ministers of the world's largest oil exporters will consult on action needed to increase low oil prices on the sidelines of an Arab energy conference opening in Damascus on Sunday. Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Bin Ibrahim al-Naimi told Reuters on arrival in Syria on Saturday he had hoped market reaction to recent oil production cuts would be stronger. Naimi said he and other OPEC ministers taking part in the conference, organised by the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), would consult over the current low oil prices and how these could be improved. He said the Damascus meeting "constitutes a good chance for us to discuss the prices and the general market situation." Asked about the possibility of a meeting between Saudi, Venezuelan and Mexican oil ministers to try to improve oil prices, Naimi said: "We will do, if we are obliged." OPEC Secretary-General Rilwanu Lukman said he had come to Damascus to take part in the Arab energy conference, but would participate in consultations among OPEC ministers about the markets and their response to the recent production quota cuts. "The first month of the cuts has just passed, and consequently we have to see what the effect of that cut is in the market. Then the ministers will decide what the next step would be." Asked whether he was satisfied by the reaction so far, he said: "prices are not bad, but not good." Lukman told reporters output figures for April were still coming in, so it was premature to discuss the possibility of further cuts. He did not expect a decision on any new quota cuts before an OPEC meeting next month. "When the time comes to examine the result of the cuts, then a decision will be taken what to do." Asked when this might be, he replied: "We have a meeting scheduled for June... we are already in May." Lukman and Naimi will attend the OAPEC meeting which runs from May 10 to 13. Arab officials taking part in the Damascus meetings were cautious when discussing the possible need for further production cuts. Suleiman al-Omani, undersecretary of the Kuwaiti Oil Ministry, told reporters in Damascus: "Nobody in the producing countries is happy with these prices." But he said: "No consensus yet among oil producers on further output cuts." Asked if Kuwait would push for more production cuts he said: "For the time being we have to see the situation." Salim Shaaban Ojaili, undersecretary at Oman's Ministry of Oil and Gas said Oman would be happy to see producers that had not cut production under the Riyadh pact move to reduce their output.