Indonesia supports OPEC's decision to increase oil output quota<\/p>\n
Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesia will support the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
\nCountries (OPEC) if the oil cartel decides to raise its output
\nquota by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 28 million bpd, a top
\nexecutive says.<\/p>\n
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro
\nsaid on Monday that OPEC should maintain its current quota and,
\nif possible, even produce more oil to ease the soaring global oil
\nprices and meet higher demand in the fourth quarter of the year.<\/p>\n
\"There have been talks about an increase in the quota by
\n500,000 bpd,\" Purnomo said on the sidelines of a joint hearing at
\nthe House of Representatives' building.<\/p>\n
\"I think (the raise) is a good move.\"<\/p>\n
Ministers from 11 member countries of OPEC will meet at the
\norganization's headquarters in Vienna on Wednesday to discuss
\ntheir production strategy for the rest of the year.<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse news agency has reported that Saudi
\nArabia's Oil Minister Ali al-Nouaimi, whose country is the only
\none that can still significantly increase production, had said
\nthat it was a foregone conclusion that OPEC would raise its
\noutput by 500,000 bpd.<\/p>\n
This prospect was raised last week by OPEC's current
\npresident, Kuwait's Ahmad Fahd al-Sabah.<\/p>\n
The group's official production target was boosted from 27
\nmillion bpd to 27.5 million bpd in April to help slash the
\nsoaring oil prices.<\/p>\n
Purnomo said, however, that this month's possible quota
\nincrease would not alter the state budget. \"We have already set
\noil prices at US$45 a barrel in the revised state budget,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Several analysts believe that the planned increase in the
\nquota will not have a significant impact on the price of crude
\noil, which has fluctuated around $50 for the past five months, as
\nactual production from OPEC member countries are already higher
\nthan the quota.<\/p>\n
According to data from Indonesia's chapter of OPEC, the
\norganization produced 30.4 million bpd in April -- including 2
\nmillion bpd output from Iraq, whose production has not been
\ncalculated into OPEC's quota since the Gulf War.<\/p>\n
AFP quoted Tony Machacek from Bache Financial as saying, \"OPEC
\nwill leave things as they are. They could make a tiny adjustment
\nto the quota to bring it closer to real output, but there will be
\nnothing that really moves the market.\"<\/p>\n
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in
\nJuly was down 39 U.S. cents to $53.15 a barrel on Monday from its
\nclose of $53.54 in the United States on Friday.<\/p>\n
In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery
\nin July gained 12 U.S. cents to $52.79 per barrel.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indonesia-supports-opecs-decision-to-increase-oil-output-quota-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}