OPEC President and Venezuelan Energy Minister Ali Rodríguez Araque, today said it is premature to announce new cuts in petroleum production.
He said that in fact there has been a supply of more than then 2 million barrels per day in excess of demand since April.
This has led to a buildup of crude in storage, and as a consequence, he said, there may be a fall in crude prices by the second trimester of next year.
"We are going to observe the performance of the market and take decisions as are opportune and necessary." the Press Office of the Second OPEC Summit reported in a press release.
Minister Rodríguez said that OPEC had been putting barrels into the market for the purpose of lowering prices.However, other factors are at work, including problems of refining, taxes, transportation, and most of all, market speculation.
"This is quite evident from the simple fact that when the U.S. government announced it would release 30 million barrels from its strategic reserve, Brent oil futures fell by more than US $6 and West Texas Intermediate by more than US $5, without the barrels even having been put on the market." Rodriguez said.
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