Iraq praised OPEC Sunday for resisting US "pressures" in its recent decision to cut the cartel's production by 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd).
"The recent decision by OPEC, rejecting American pressures, serves the interest of the producers, without hurting consumers," the cabinet concluded in a meeting presided over by President Saddam Hussein, the official INA news agency said.
OPEC decided in Vienna Wednesday to cut total production by 1.5 million bpd to 25.2 million bpd from February 1, to combat a fall in the price of crude at the end of the winter in the northern hemisphere, when demand for oil products will fall.
Before the Vienna meeting, Iraq argued for a cut of three million bpd in OPEC production by March.
US Energy Secretary Bill Richardsonon had toured Gulf countries belonging to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), but said Washington was not pressuring countries to secure a limit on the size of an output cut.—AFP.
©--Agence France Presse 2001.
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
