WORLD
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Friday, April 25, 2003
OPEC cuts actual
output by 7 percent
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By Bruce Stanley
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
VIENNA, Austria
Hoping to stabilize weakening
crude prices, OPEC members
agreed Thursday to cut their
current oil output by 2 million
barrels a day, or 7 percent.
At the same time, the
Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries took the
surprising step of temporarily
raising its official output target
to 25.4 million barrels, up
900,000 barrels a day from its
existing ceiling.
I The changes take effect June
l.OPEC President Abdullah bin
Hamad Al-Attiyah said.
The group, whose 11 mem
bers pump about a third of the
world’s oil, announced its
decision at a chaotic news con
ference at its headquarters that
left some energy analysts
bewildered.
The announcement followed
three hours of emergency talks
that aimed at preventing a fur
ther decline in prices. Crude
prices have tumbled from
almost $40 a barrel for U.S.
crude before the Iraq war to
about $25 in recent weeks.
OPEC feared more declines if it
didn’t rein in what it saw as an
oversupply just as crude
demand reached a seasonal low.
The group based its produc
tion cut largely on what it said
was sluggish global demand
during the second quarter. The
slowdown has been exacerbated
by the outbreak of Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome, which
Al-Attiyah said has dampened
crude demand by 300,000 bar
rels a day.
OPEC plans to review its
decision when it meets again
June 11 in Doha, Qatar.
“We feel we may need
another cut in June,” Al-Attiyah
said. “We will watch the market
very carefully. We will see how
the market reacts.”
The market’s initial reaction
was to shave about a dollar off
the price of a barrel of oil, as
traders apparently concluded
that OPEC was making more
crude available than they had
expected. June contracts of U.S.
light, sweet crude fell as low as
$25.61 a barrel in New York, but
ended down 1 cent at $26.64 a
barrel. North Sea Brent crude
for June delivery settled up 4
cents at $24.30 a barrel in
London.
Al-Attiyah argued that
OPEC could not begin cutting
production in May because
member countries had already
committed fixed quantities of
oil to their customers.
“We cannot pull out of the
market,” he said.
Several OPEC members had
boosted their production before
the war, hoping to head off a
supply shortage. The rapid end
of the conflict has left them fac
ing what they see as a surplus of
2 million barrels a day.
“It is important to reduce
oversupply,” Venezuela’s oil
minister Rafael Ramirez told
reporters before the hastily
arranged talks began. “We have
to have more discipline, and it is
important to take measures and
remove that amount from the
market.”
If not, OPEC wouldn’t be
able to maintain its price target
of $25 a barrel, he said.
Many energy analysts had
expected OPEC to agree to curb
production. In the end, the
group took the unusual decision
of slashing its actual production
— which it calculated as 27.4
million barrels a day, including
Iraq — while also raising the
nominal ceiling for OPEC’s 10
members excluding Iraq.
OPEC’s current target is 24.5
million barrels a day.
The decision means Saudi
Arabia, OPEC’s most powerful
member, would reduce its pro
duction by 1 million barrels a
day, Al-Attiyah said.
OPEC representatives called
Thursday’s meeting to reassess
the group’s output levels as oil
began flowing again in Iraq for
the first time since the war.
OPEC is ready to welcome
Iraq back as a participating
member, Al-Attiyah said. Iraq
hasn’t taken part in the group’s
production agreements since
April 1991, after the first Gulf
War.
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NEWS IN BRIEF
Iceland opens first hydrogen filling station
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Iceland opened what is believed to be the
world's first filling station for hydrogen-powered vehicles on Thursday
-the next step toward its dream of giving up fossil fuels completely.
The first car in line was a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van, a prototype
provided under a European Union-backed program to use Iceland as
a test for hydrogen power.
There weren't any other customers Thursday: None of Iceland's
280,000 people are known to drive cars powered by hydrogen. The
new station will be used by three DaimlerChrysler hydrogen-powered
buses being introduced into the Reykjavik fleet for two years, starting
in August. Each bus can go about 125 miles before it needs refueling.
"In time, what is happening in Iceland will show to the rest of the
world that hydrogen fuel is a real, commercial possibility that will lead
to a cleaner, pollution-free environment," Industry Minister Valgerdir
Sverrisdottir said at an opening ceremony.
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