Business | Oil & Gas
Kuwait says Opec unlikely to cut production as oil falls further
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries is unlikely to cut production quotas at its next meeting, said Mohammed Al Olaim, the oil minister of Kuwait, Opec's fourth- biggest producer.
- Bloomberg
- Published: 17:32 August 5, 2008
Kuwait: The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries is unlikely to cut production quotas at its next meeting, said Mohammed Al Olaim, the oil minister of Kuwait, Opec's fourth- biggest producer.
“I think not much change will happen for the time being,'' Al Olaim said on Tuesday in an interview in Al Zour, southern Kuwait. Any changes to Opec output limits will depend on “analysis'' between now and September, he said.
Opec, which supplies more than 40 per cent of the world's oil, will meet to review production targets in Vienna on September 9 and then in Algeria on December 17.
The group has this year maintained an official output limit for 12 of its 13 members at 29.67 million barrels a day.
“Supply is going to continue as it is, no reduction. By all means there is no cut in production, although there is a very big drop in prices,'' Al Olaim said.
Kuwait “isn't worried about a drop in prices,'' or reduced demand, for now, he added.
“An economic recession in the United States, or slow growth, and a cooling of the geopolitics problem, could lead to more of a drop in prices,'' he said.
Crude oil for September delivery fell as much as $3.41, or 2.8 per cent, to $118 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange earlier on Tuesday on speculation Tropical Storm Edouard will leave oil rigs and refineries undamaged along the coast of Texas.
Oil has lost almost $30 since touching a record of $147.27 a barrel in New York on July 11 as unprecedented fuel costs prompted US consumers to limit spending.
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