OPEC consensus for oil output cut<\/p>\n
Reuters, Cairo<\/p>\n
OPEC oil producers are set to seal an unprecedented alliance
\non output restrictions with rival independent suppliers to prop
\nup world crude prices, cartel ministers said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said OPEC ministers had a
\nconsensus to reduce supply by 1.5 million barrels a day (bpd)
\nfrom Jan. 1 at their meeting on Friday.<\/p>\n
\"We have a consensus for 1.5 from Jan. 1,\" he told reporters
\nin Cairo.<\/p>\n
OPEC said in November it was prepared to implement the
\nrestrictions to counter an economic downturn that is sapping
\nworld petroleum demand -- but only if non-OPEC producers made
\nreductions of 500,000 barrels daily.<\/p>\n
Big independent producers like Russia and Norway stood accused
\nby the cartel of taking a free ride on three rounds of supply
\ncuts made already this year by OPEC.<\/p>\n
OPEC, in control of nearly two-thirds of world exports, had
\nsliced 3.5 million barrels a day since January 2001 and was
\nworried it was losing market share to non-aligned suppliers.<\/p>\n
Naimi said there was no doubt now that the five non-OPEC
\nnations that also include Mexico, Oman and Angola would deliver
\non promises made in recent weeks to remove a combined 462,500
\nbpd.<\/p>\n
\"It is certain that they will carry out their pledges and that
\nOPEC will comply with the cuts,\" the Saudi minister told Reuters
\non Wednesday. The reductions are likely to be imposed for six
\nmonths although OPEC will review policy at a mid-March meeting.<\/p>\n
Naimi said OPEC was aiming to push prices back up to US$20-$25
\nfor a barrel of its crude -- equivalent to about $22-$27 for
\ninternational benchmark Brent blend. Brent in early London trade
\non Friday rose $1.21 a barrel to $20.55.<\/p>\n
OPEC's success in getting non-OPEC to help shoulder the burden
\nof its supply management campaign puts to rest the threat of an
\nall-out price war that in mid-November pushed Brent below $17 a
\nbarrel.<\/p>\n
Oil had fallen from $28 for Brent since the Sept. 11 attacks
\ndarkened an already gloomy economic outlook, hitting petroleum
\ndemand.<\/p>\n
Now it looks likely that importing nations, struggling to
\ncombat recession, will see energy bills rising again.<\/p>\n
\"These are the largest ever non-OPEC contributions to OPEC's
\nefforts to maintain the price of oil,\" said consultant Gary Ross
\nof New York's PIRA Energy.<\/p>\n
\"Producers that control eighty percent of the world's crude
\nexports are now working together for higher prices.\"<\/p>",
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