RI to ask OPEC to roll over the existing quota

Indonesia will suggest to OPEC that it must maintain the existing crude output quota (28.8 million barrels per day- bpd) during the latter’s 139th session in Vienna, which will be held on January 31, 2006, Bisnis Indonesia newspaper reported in its Saturday edition.

“The roll over quota of OPEC is important because the oil prices are still going up,” Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Friday in Jakarta.

The suggestion, according to Purnomo, will be submitted officially by the Indonesian delegation during the 139th session of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The delegation will be lead by the Alternate Head of Delegate, which will include Indonesian ambassador in Vienna and Indonesia’s governor to OPEC Maizar Rahman.

The former OPEC president said that it will be very risky to add or reduce the OPEC quota when the oil prices are still very high.

“The ideal thing to do is to just roll over the existing quota to maintain the oil price stability. The OPEC is already producing in excess of the quota,” Purnomo said.

Though the quota is 28.8 million barrels of oil per day, the OPEC has been producing an additional 1.1 million bpd on an average to meet the ever rising world’s oil demand. (*)