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OPEC should keep current oil output: Venezuela
AFP
VIENNA
Petroleumworld.com 03 15 07The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries should maintain its current oil output target, Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said Wednesday on the eve of the cartel's meeting on production.
OPEC "must not increase (its) output" but should instead "simply maintain the current production level and see," the minister told journalists in Vienna, where Thursday's meeting was being held.
The 12-member cartel was expected to keep its output target at 25.8 million barrels of oil per day when it meets.
Iraq is not included in the quota system as its output has been disrupted by violence, nor is Angola, OPEC's newest member which has yet to be handed a target.
Analysts estimate that OPEC, minus Iraq and Angola, is overproducing by about 700,000 barrels per day, but Ramirez insisted Wednesday that the cartel was "respecting (the quota) very well" and would continue to do so.
Recent cuts in production decided by the cartel "have finally given us the result we expected, that is, to bring stocks back to normal levels," the Venezuelan minister said.This "will contribute to stabilizing prices," he said, adding that it was important for his country that prices remained at their current level of about 60 dollars a barrel.
Last December, OPEC decided to cut production by 500,000 barrels per day from February 1 this year, following a reduction of 1.2 million bpd in November.
That left its quota at 25.8 million bpd, but in February OPEC produced 26.54 million according to an estimate by energy analyst group Argus.
The cartel's move to slash production towards the end of last year came after crude prices had tumbled from record highs above 78 dollars in mid-2006 to about 60 dollars.
They went on to fall below 50 dollars in New York in mid-January, the lowest point for 19 months, owing to strengthening energy stockpiles in the United States.
Venezuela, meanwhile, is the only Latin American country in the 12-member cartel, which produces more than a third of the world's oil.
AFP 14 1604 GMT 03 07
Copyright© 2007 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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