(MEBG) – A further decrease in oil prices in over the weekend apparently inspired OPEC Secretary General Rilwanu Lukman comment that the organization will adopt a Saudi plan to increase the supply of crude oil, writes Gulf Daily News. He said that " the market might need a little more oil above 500,000 (barrels a day).”
Oil prices fell further in July, with Brent blend crude traded down 63 cents at $29.08 a barrel. US light crude was off 61 cents at $29.67. " ,
But Ali Rodriguez, OPEC's president, said that, while more crude can be delivered, it should not be pumped unless the group is sure it is needed. However, an OPEC source said that Saudi Arabia is coordinating it's moves with other OPEC members, and is keen to end speculation that it is keeping prices at artificially high levels. At the same time, the Saudis also are also committed not to trigger a price slump.
]It should be noted that only Saudi Arabia and the UAE have significant spare output capacity . Kuwait and Algeria also might be able to squeeze out a few extra barrels, and Mexico, which is not a member of OPEC but cooperates with the organization, also has some idle capacity.
The United States has said it would swap two million barrels of crude from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve in exchange for heating oil, for use this winter in case of shortages in the northeast of the country.
In a related development, the Kuwaiti Oil Minister Shaikh Saud Nasser Al Sabah denied consulting with other oil producers concerning a rise in output. He said that initiative to increase output should come from within OPEC, but he refused to say if Kuwait believed the market needed more oil or if it would participate in the
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