OPEC ministers raise quota, cut output
Friday, April 25 2003 - 03:30 AM WIB
"We've decided to reduce two million barrels a day from the first of June," Iran's oil minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh told journalists as he emerged from a meeting of the Organisation of Petroluem Exporting Countries Thursday.
"It's a first step in reaction to the markets," he said.
OPEC ministers had been trying to ward off a slump in oil prices after Iraq resumed production in the wake of the conflict there, triggering fears that the market would be swamped with oil.
They had also been battling against excess production, estimated to be about two million bpd above the previous quota of 24.5 million bpd which was set in January.
At the time, oil ministers feared prices would surge above their target range of 22 to 28 dollars.
Nigeria's oil minister Rilwanu Lukman said the new ceiling would be "temporary from June 1, it will be reviewed on June 11".
The 11 OPEC member states are scheduled to hold a full extraordinary conference on that date.
Zangeneh explained that the OPEC states -- with the exception of Iraq which is still excluded from the production quota -- had produced an average of about 27.4 bpd in February to March.
The output cut from June down to the new ceiling was "a first step of reduction of the total production of OPEC", he added. (*)