OPEC agrees to cut oil output

www.chinaview.cn 2008-10-24 17:46:39  

    VIENNA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) --

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed here on Friday to cut oil output by 1.5 million barrels a day.

    OPEC made the decision at an urgent meeting here Friday in the OPEC headquarters, which is aimed at addressing the slide of oil prices over past months.

    "The Conference has decided to decrease the current OPEC-11 production ceiling of 28.808 million barrels a day by 1.5 million barrels a day, effective 1 November 2008," said a resolution passed at the one-day meeting.

    OPEC also reached consensus on the distribution of an overall output cut among the 13 OPEC members, which is effective as of next month.

    Saudi Arabia, the biggest oil exporter in the world, will reduce its daily output by 466,000 barrels, the biggest cut among the OPEC members.

    Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Venezuela and Nigeria also agreed to cut their daily production by over 100,000 barrels.

    "There is over supply in the international market," OPEC conference president Shakib Khalil (also written in French as Chekib Khelil), who is also Energy Minister of Algeria, told a press conference after the meeting.

    Khalil said high oil prices "is not a demand issue," noting that high oil prices were driven by speculations, "just like speculation has driven the price of dollar."

    Khalil also cleared the doubts about the implementation of the output cut as Saudi Arabia openly opposed to the output cut ahead of the meeting. "We are very confident, because I don't think they have other choice," Khalil said.

    OPEC, which produces around 40 percent of the world's oil, also urged non-OPEC oil exporters to contribute to efforts to restore prices to "reasonable levels," noting that "OPEC cannot be expected to bear alone the burden of restoring equilibrium" of oil supply and demand.

    Khalil said OPEC had informed Russia, a big oil exporter outside OPEC, of its decision on output cut.

    "They will contribute," said Khalil.

    Over the past three months, oil price has seen a steep slide on the international market, partly triggered by global financial crisis.

    On July 11, 2008, oil price hit a record high of 147.27 U.S. dollars per barrel, but it has plunged sharply thereafter.

    Earlier on Thursday, the price of New York oil dived to a new 16-month low in choppy trade.

    New York's main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery, sank as low as 65.90 U.S. dollars per barrel, which was last seen on June 13, 2007.

OPEC holds urgent meeting in Vienna on oil output cut

www.chinaview.cn 2008-10-24 15:23:39  

    VIENNA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) --

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) held an "extraordinary meeting" on Friday in Vienna, aiming to reach a deal on oil output cut.

    Ministers in charge of oil production from 13 OPEC members gathered here at the OPEC headquarters, exploring a consensus in abid to address the slide of oil prices.

    Prior to the one-day meeting, OPEC members were still divided over the output cut.

    Iran, Libya and Venezuela called for "quick action" to cut the oil output so as to avoid price slide, while Saudi Arabia, the biggest oil exporter in the world, rejected any output cut.

    Earlier on Thursday, the price of New York oil dived to a new 16-month low in choppy trade.

    New York's main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery, sank to as low as 65.90 U.S. dollars per barrel, which was last seen on June 13, 2007.

    Just three months ago, the oil price hit record high of 147.27 U. S. dollars per barrel on July 11, 2008.

    OPEC produces 40 percent of the world's oil and its official output quota stands at 28.8 million barrels per day.

    By press time, the OPEC meeting is still going on.