Indonesia wants OPEC to keep quotas unchanged

Indonesia will propose that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) keep quotas unchanged at 25.4 million barrels per day in the next ministerial meeting.

?The price is improving and condition in Iraq remains uncertain. So there is no need change the quotas,? Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro told reporters on the sidelines of the signing ceremony of gas contracts in Denpasar.

OPEC ministers will hold an extraordinary meeting in Vienna on July 31.

Earlier, Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said current quotas won?t be a topic of discussion at the July 31 extraordinary meeting

Instead, prevailing oil market supply and demand dynamics and the state of Iraq's oil industry will be the main talking points, he was quoted by Dow Jones Newswires in Washington on Friday.

Given the sabotage that has crimped Iraq's recovery and the fledgling state of the country's new energy department, it's "not easy to obtain information" about the progress of its oil industry's recuperation.

But it's quite likely that Iraq won't reach 1 million barrels a day in oil output this year, he reiterated, following up on comments made during the press conference.

On current quotas, though, Ramirez did note that a special committee has been formed within OPEC to look at the issues involved. These involved mainly whether production quotas should be based on reserve or production-capacity levels. (Godang)