Kuwait has said it supports OPEC moves to push world oil prices up into the cartel's price band of between $22 and 28 a barrel. "Since the last OPEC meeting, oil prices have been on a continuous decline. We therefore support any decision by OPEC members to increase oil prices to the lowest half of the price range," Kuwaiti Oil Minister Adel al-Sebeih told reporters on Saturday October 20.
"The continued decline in oil prices will have a negative impact on OPEC member states and will undoubtedly lead to action to raise prices," he said upon his return from an OPEC monitoring committee meeting in Vienna. OPEC's price per barrel has lingered around $20 for more than three weeks, below the $22 dollar floor of its target band and in theory triggering an automatic 500,000 barrels-per-day cut.
Key OPEC ministers met Friday in Vienna to discuss crude prices without taking any official decision. The cartel insisted it could cut oil output to prop up crude prices, which have slumped to a two-year low since September 11, but said it will wait "a little" longer to monitor events. The slump in oil prices has been aggravated by looming recession after the terrorist attacks in the United States. — (AFP, Kuwait City)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
