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To: gizelle otero who wrote (40617)	3/22/1999 8:12:00 PM
From: Captain James T. Kirk	Respond to of 95453

March 22, 6:24 pm Oil higher as OPEC gathers to approve cuts (Updates with closing prices) LONDON, March 22 (Reuters) - Oil markets rose on Monday as OPEC ministers gathered in Vienna to rubber stamp tough new production cutbacks they hope will finally end a year-long oil supply glut. Brent futures on the London International Petroleum Exchange was last traded 43 cents higher at $13.88 a barrel with some traders anticipating a tight market by the end of the year. Others have yet to be convinced. ''All seems to be going well as far as imminent production cuts are concerned. The market has been impressed with the words and now action has to follow,'' said Leslie Nicholas at GNI Research. ''Even at 75 percent compliance the market would be very tight by the end of the year,'' said a London-based oil trader. OPEC is due to meet on Tuesday to ratify a 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd), or seven percent, cut in OPEC production. The agreement, to take effect from April 1, was reached by five leading OPEC countries in a deal with non-OPEC Mexico, Norway and Oman in The Hague on March 12. The non-OPEC trio agreed to cut their output by nearly 290,000 bpd. In Moscow, a spokesman for Russian Energy Minister Sergei Generalov, due in Vienna on Monday, said Moscow would reduce exports by 100,000 bpd during the second quarter. OPEC action last year had proved too little too late to tackle the towering petroleum stockpile exacerbated by failing Asian demand, sending oil prices crashing below $10 a barrel. The cartel, in control of 55 percent of world oil trade, saw petroleum export revenues slump 30 percent, losing $50 billion. This time OPEC is confident it has resolved the issues that ruined last year's efforts at market intervention. ''Hopefully they have finally learnt their lesson,'' said Jim McLaren, a trader at Bridge-Alimar BV. Ministers insist there will be no repeat in 1999 of the sloppy adherence by some countries with official output limits. ''There are no fears this time about compliance,'' a Gulf official who is familiar with Saudi policy said on Sunday. Ministers are keen to restore the $18 oil price they were familiar with before their cartel allowed world supplies to outstrip slowing demand growth. ''The idea is $17-$19 Brent,'' said a Gulf official in Vienna. ''By the third quarter you will see it around that level. Prices will rise when the market feels the cuts.'' The Centre for Global Energy Studies think-tank said 100 percent compliance with the new agreement could lift physical Brent crude prices to over $19 a barrel in the fourth quarter. Oil prices rose sharply after the Hague pact but are little better than last year's $13.30 average for Brent -- a 22-year low. Tuesday's deal is set to reduce OPEC production, excluding sanctions-bound Iraq, to under 23 million bpd from around 24.7 million last July and 27.3 million a year ago. Iraq's Amir Mohammad Rasheed told reporters in Vienna Iraqi oil exports might rise a little this year but would not match the big jump of 1998 which offset a sizeable portion of OPEC's reductions. World oil demand is expected to grow about a million bpd this year, with about half of the growth coming from the United States, analysts say. Dealers anticipate strong U.S. gasoline demand this spring and prices in Europe moved higher on Monday.