Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Al-Nuaimi arrived on Tuesday, November 13 in Norway on the last leg of a tour aimed at convincing oil producing countries to cut production in order to stabilize world prices, on the eve of an OPEC meeting in Vienna.
Al-Nuaimi was to hold talks with his Norwegian counterpart Einar Steensnaes in the southwestern town of Stavanger on Tuesday morning.
Al-Nuaimi, the most influential minister within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, has been trying for several weeks to persuade major exporters outside the cartel -- such as Russia, Mexico and Norway -- to join OPEC in cutting supply.
Norway is the world's third-largest exporter of crude oil, producing about 3.1 million barrels per day. It has repeatedly indicated that it has no intention of reducing production. OPEC ministers are to meet on Wednesday in Vienna, where they are expected to agree to a fourth cut in output this year to rescue prices, which have slumped around 25 percent to two-year lows since the events of September 11.
They could reduce output by as much as 1.5 million barrels per day to bring prices up to the $22-28-per-barrel range set by OPEC. Venezuelan Oil Minister Alvaro Silva Calderon said the cartel wanted non-OPEC countries to cut production by 500,000 barrels per day.
So far only Russia, the world's second-largest oil exporter, has reduced its production, though only by the symbolic amount of 30,000 barrels per day. — (AFP, Stavanger)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
