OPEC may hold emergency meeting if prices continues to fall
Tuesday, March 25 2003 - 11:50 PM WIB
Oil prices tumbled almost 30 percent last week as traders factored in a short war with little damage to Iraq's oil industry.
"There's always the possibility of holding an extraordinary meeting if oil prices fall too fast," Yusgiantoro told reporters when asked if a meeting would be held before the June gathering in Qatar.
"We hope prices will not fall below $22 a barrel," he said.
Oil prices have bounced back from last week's four-month lows as traders focused on resistance to U.S. invasion forces in Iraq and tribal violence in Nigeria that has cut its crude output by 40 percent.
U.S. light crude was up 34 cents to $29.00 a barrel at 0450 GMT on Tuesday, while London's Brent crude climbed 31 cents to $26.40 a barrel.
Yusgiantoro said non-OPEC members would likely pitch in to prevent major price falls as they had done in the past.
"As experienced in the past, if prices fall too far below $20, then non-OPEC countries such as Norway and Mexico would cooperate to improve the price," he said.
Indonesia, Asia's only member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is currently producing around 1.05 million barrels per day (BPD). It has a production quota of 1.27 million BPD.(*)