Indonesia wants Iraq not to quit OPEC

The Indonesian government hoped

that Iraq would maintain its membership in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) despite the post-war government transition, a minister said.

If Iraq quitted OPEC, the world's oil supply would be seriously affected and lead the price uncontrolled, according to Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro.

"In a long term, should Iraq quit OPEC, it would affect the world's oil supply," he was quoted by Kompas newspaper as saying Tuesday.

"Indonesia hopes that Iraq will not quit OPEC, given that Iraq is one of the founding countries of OPEC," he said.

Among members of the oil cartel, Iraq is the second largest producer after Saudi Arabia with an average output of 2.5 million barrels per day. Without Iraq, OPEC's output is around 24.5 million bpd.

Purnomo said the cartel would hold an emergency meeting in Vienna, Austria, to discuss production cut because of the plummeting oil price. OPEC targeted oil price to be within the range of 22 to 28 US dollars per barrel, but the price has dropped from 27 dollars to 24 recently, he said.

Indonesia would propose the production cut in the meeting, he said, noting that OPEC's overproduction has reached between 1.5 million to 2 million bpd.(*)