The White House on Sunday credited Saudi Arabia with helping to bring off a decision by oil-producing nations to increase output in an effort to bring down oil prices that reached a 10-year high last week.
"I think this is a substantial increase led by Saudi Arabia to bring this increase out of OPEC, but we're going to have to take a hard look and see whether it's enough" White House Chief of Staff John Podesta told Fox television.The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), at its meeting in Vienna Sunday, agreed to boost its production by 800,000 barrels a day beginning October 1.
"I think we've got to digest what they've done today," said Podesta. "We are going to digest it and see what the market does and see what it does really to stocks."
The White House chief of staff admitted that with (northern hemisphere) winter approaching, the United States had "very low" stocks of home heating oil, a shortage that economists predict could lead to an up to 30-percent increase in heating oil prices this season.
Podesta said the Clinton administration was considering a number of options to address the situation but stopped short of going into specifics.
"We've got some things that we are considering that we may do in furtherance of this, but right now we need to analyze this," said Podesta.
US President Bill Clinton met with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz in New York last week to discuss oil prices and explore ways to increase the availability of oil on the world market.
Prices surged to 10-year highs in New York and London last week, surpassing 34 dollars a barrel.—AFP.
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© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
