OPEC head Ali Rodriguez said Thursday that the oil-producing group must cut production as a preventive measure to avoid a price slump as a global economic slowdown reduces demand.
He declined to forecast how much OPEC will cut production by at a meeting in Vienna Friday.
"There are many factors, like the slowdown in the American economy, in Japan and the impact of the situation in Asia mainly in Korea and Taiwan and other countries," the OPEC secretary general told reporters.
"We have to take preventive measures to maintain the stability, but we have to wait for the results of the meeting," he added. The International Energy Agency (IEA) had adjusted its demand forecast, he noted.
"We think demand will increase by only 1.3 million (barrels per day) in the whole year, and non-OPEC production will be a million," he added, speaking as OPEC ministers continued to arrive for the Friday meeting.
Analysts are forecasting that the meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will agree on a cut of between 0.5-1.0 million barrels per day.
The 11-member grouping already cut production by 1.5 million bpd in January to shore up slumping prices, which have settled around the OPEC target of $25 a barrel in recent weeks. —(AFP)
© — Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
