Indonesia To Propose OPEC Output Cut Of 1M-1.5M B-D

Minister of Energy and mineral resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said Wednesday that Indonesia will urge the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut output by between 1 million and 1.5 million barrels a day to help boost oil prices.

"Our stance is clear that we will propose OPEC to cut output between 1 million and 1.5 million barrels," Purnomo said. "We will decide the exact figure after we receive the reports on the output of each OPEC member."

OPEC will hold a meeting Jan. 17 in Vienna.

Purnomo said that the government hasn't made a decision whether to hedge Indonesian crude oil price at $24 a barrel, a price used to base the year 2001 state budget to protect the budget from the adverse impact of declining oil prices. He said the matter is being discussed in parliament.(*)