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OPEC president says no plans yet for emergency group meeting
Reuters
OPEC President Edmund Daukoru
MarketWatch
LONDON
Petroleumworld.com 09 26 06The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries President Edmund Daukoru said Monday that he is speaking to oil ministers from the 11-nation producer group about the drop of oil prices to the $59-a-barrel level but said there are no plans yet for OPEC to hold a formal meeting.
"I am conferring with some ministers. I am not at liberty to say with whom but we're conferring," Daukoru, who is also Nigeria's oil minister, told Dow Jones Newswires by telephone.
"There are no plans just yet for holding a meeting though," Daukoru added.
Oil prices fell more than $1 a barrel earlier Monday to a fresh six-month low of $59.52 a barrel after BP PLC (BP.LN) said it would restore most of its production at Alaska's Prudhoe Bay field within a week and after Iran said it favored negotiations on the country's nuclear program.
Daukoru said it would take more than one day of oil prices below $60/bbl to warrant a formal OPEC meeting, although he declined to specify what threshold would trigger an emergency OPEC meeting.
He said OPEC was monitoring news that BP would boost output at Prudhoe Bay by about 150,000 barrels a day to a total of about 400,000 b/d by the end of this week. Output at the field has been around 250,000 b/d recently.
"I wouldn't say we aren't concerned," Daukoru said about the Prudhoe Bay development.
BP received approval from U.S. pipeline regulators Friday to restart more production from the field, America's biggest daily producer. BP sharply cut production from Prudhoe Bay in August after a spill was discovered from a rusted pipeline.
Oil prices increased by more than a $1 a barrel when BP announced it would cut much of the daily output from the field, which was pumping around 450,000 b/d before the incident.
MarketWatch 09 25 06
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