Increase in oil supply quota 'good for RI'
Increase in oil supply quota 'good for RI'
JAKARTA (JP): Former secretary-general for the Organization of
the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Subroto called on
Indonesia yesterday to put its weight behind Saudi Arabia's call
for an increase in the oil supply quota.
"If the quota is raised, Indonesia will certainly have its
quota raised as well. This would provide a chance for the country
to get more oil revenue," Subroto said.
Minister of Mines and Energy I.B. Sudjana, as head of the
Indonesian delegation for the upcoming OPEC meeting in Jakarta,
has not yet made any statement on Indonesia's stance over the
Saudi call to increase oil supply to anticipate world demand.
OPEC's oil ministers will hold their biannual meeting starting
Nov. 26 at the newly built Dharmawangsa Hotel.
The production quota of the 11 OPEC member countries is 25.03
million barrels per day (bpd).
The Saudi delegation to OPEC's Economic Commission Board (ECB)
predicted last week that world demand for oil would rise to 75.8
million bpd next year, from 73.48 million bpd this year.
The Saudi delegation projected that non-OPEC supplies would
top 48.6 million bpd next year, up from 47.35 million bpd this
year.
The delegation called on OPEC members to raise their oil
supply quota to fill any remaining demand left unsupplied by non-
OPEC countries.
However, Reuters said most of the other member states at the
ECB discussion disputed the Saudi projections.
They predicted world demand for oil would increase 1.87
million bpd to 75.35 million bpd next year, but non-OPEC
countries would increase production by 1.86 million bpd.
They said demand for oil from OPEC members would only increase
10,000 bpd.
OPEC's president Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attaiyah, who is also
Qatar's oil minister, earlier said he did not expect
extraordinary things to happen during the Jakarta meeting since
the oil supply quota would remain unchanged.
Subroto called on OPEC yesterday to increase the oil supply
quota to prevent non-OPEC members from taking advantage of the
growth in world demand.
OPEC's governor for Indonesia Purnomo Yusgiantoro, also an
expert advisor to Sudjana, refused to reveal yesterday
Indonesia's stance on the oil supply quota discussion.
"The quota issue will be decided during the meeting," he said.
But Purnomo estimated that world demand for oil would increase
only by 1.75 million bpd to 75.23 million bpd next year, mainly
because of the growth in demand in developing countries such as
China.
"Developing countries will account for one million bpd of next
year's growth," he said.
Purnomo said the meeting would be attended by 105 delegates
from Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Algeria, Indonesia,
Libya, Nigeria, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
The oil ministers of the 11 countries will hold a bilateral
meeting on Nov. 28 and will be received by President Soeharto on
Dec. 1.
He said the conference would have a routine agenda and would
discuss administration and finance, restructuring of the OPEC
organization, oil price development and monitoring of oil
production of member countries.
The meeting will also elect OPEC's next secretary-general for
a three-year term. The present secretary-general is Rilwanu
Lukman from Nigeria. (jsk)