2.1m barrels of oil per day missing, RI worried oil price to sharply fall

Minister of energy and mineral resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said 2.1 million barrels of oil supplies were "missing" every day, voicing fears the missing oil would flow into the market next year putting heavy pressure on oil price.

Purnomo said the missing oil would become one of the topics of discussion during the upcoming extraordinary meeting of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). "We hope during the meeting we shall find out whether the missing oil is being stored by traders or industrialized countries or other parties.

"If we can detect the location and the market (of the missing oil), it will be fine for us," Purnomo told Petromindo.Com and Kompas daily on Friday.

OPEC will hold an extraordinary ministerial meeting next week in Vienna to discuss oil price.

Purnomo said OPEC member countries fear that the buyers of the "missing oil" would dispose of the oil into the market during spring, when oil demand was low. This could press down the oil price to between US$10 and $12 per barrel as against the current price of above $30 per barrel.

He said during the OPEC meeting, the Indonesian delegation would stick to President Abdurrahman Wahid's statement during the recent OPEC summit in Caracas that the ideal price for oil was at between $24 and $25 per barrel and the Indonesian oil price at $22 per barrel. (Godang)