Indonesia says global oil stocks are satisfactory
Wednesday, September 18 2002 - 03:43 AM WIB
OPEC believes there are enough oil stocks to satisfy global demand and the 11-member cartel will focus on market fundamentals when it meets here, AFP quoted Indonesia's OPEC representative as saying.
"We believe that there is enough crude on the market," Indonesia's Minister of Mines and Energy Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Wednesday as he arrived for an informal meeting of OPEC ministers.
"The price is too high because of the political situation in the Middle East," he told reporters.
OPEC members are gathering in Osaka to decide whether to increase oil production and rein in the price of oil, which is currently hovering around 28 dollars a barrel.
Oil prices plunged on Tuesday after Iraq agreed to the unconditional return of UN arms inspectors, raising expectations that an attack on Baghdad could be averted.
OPEC ministers are divided on whether the time has come to boost oil production in order to send a reassuring signal to world markets.
While producers such as Venezuela, Indonesia, Kuwait and Qatar are pushing for current output levels to be maintained, OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia is backing a production increase as a means of relieving price pressures.
Yusgiantoro said OPEC would always focus on market fundamentals, "the actions of supply and demand."
Indonesia intends to propose flexible crude oil production quotas for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).(*)