The OPEC oil cartel is set to cut output this week, but needs other key producers to help revive prices which have slumped alarmingly since September 11, Libya's oil minister said Sunday, November 11.
Abdulhasid Mahmoud Zlitni refused to be drawn on whether Tripoli would support a production cut of up to 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd), as expected at the OPEC meeting Wednesday.
"We will support the right reduction. I'm not quite sure whether 1.5 is the right one or not. This has to be discussed with our colleagues," said Zlitni, the first OPEC minister to arrive in Vienna. But he insisted: "It is important to stabilize the world price that OPEC producers and non-members must coordinate."
Wednesday's meeting of the 11-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is expected to slash production to boost prices, which have slumped to two-year lows amid a global economic slowdown deepened by the September 11 terror attacks. But the Arab-dominated cartel, which produces 40 percent of the world's crude, has for weeks been pressing key non-OPEC producers such as Russia, Norway and Mexico to support its action.
It received a boost last Friday when Russia announced plans to cut oil exports to stabilize prices. More details are expected from Moscow during the week. More OPEC ministers are expected in Vienna from Monday, for informal talks ahead of the formal meeting at the cartel's secretariat. — (AFP, Vienna)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
