Indonesia supports proposals for a cut in oil production by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said Wednesday.
"We are certainly more agreeable to that (production cut) but on how much, we cannot yet give a figure," Yusgiantoro said according to the Antara news agency.
He said the government was waiting for the latest data on international oil trading which is usually released around the 20th of each month, before it could decide on a more definitive figure for a proposed cut.
"What is certain is that we will not propose an increase in production and besides that, Indonesia has not yet been able to meet the last quota increase," Yusgiantoro said.
At their last meeting in November, OPEC ministers agreed to raise the group's output ceiling to 26.7 million barrels of crude oil a day.
A number of OPEC member countries have already called for a lowering of production quotas at the January 17 meeting in Vienna, following sharp falls in prices to around $26 a barrel from their October peak of about $35.
Libya, Iran and Kuwait have all called for cuts to stop prices falling further, with some suggesting that one million barrels a day less oil would stop the price slump in its tracks.—AFP.
©--Agence France Presse.
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
