Indonesia should retain OPEC leadership: Analysts

Indonesia should retain OPEC leadership: Analysts

JAKARTA (JP): New Minister of Mines and Energy Kuntoro
Mangkusubroto should assume the position of his predecessor, I.B.
Sudjana, as president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC), an OPEC official and an analyst said here
yesterday.

OPEC governor for Indonesia Purnomo Yusgiantoro and former
OPEC secretary-general Subroto said OPEC ministers had elected
Sudjana as the organization's president during their conference
last November in Jakarta in his position as the country's then
minister of mines and energy.

Kuntoro, as Sudjana's successor, should automatically become
OPEC president, they said.

"The position of OPEC president is held by a minister, not a
person. This is the point we want to put forward for discussion
at OPEC's headquarters in Vienna," Purnomo said.

Sudjana was elected OPEC president for a period starting from
OPEC's ministerial conference in Jakarta last November until the
next ministerial conference in June.

Purnomo and Subroto made their remarks following a report that
United Arab Emirates (UAE) Oil Minister Obaid bin Saif Al Nasseri
would replace Sudjana as OPEC's new president.

Al Nasseri was elected alternate president during the November
meeting in Jakarta.

Dow Jones quoted an anonymous UAE official as confirming Al
Nasseri's appointment, but OPEC headquarters has thus far not
been able to provide further details.

Purnomo acknowledged that OPEC's statute does not clearly
support Kuntoro's appointment to replace Sudjana.

But the statute also does not justify replacing Sudjana with
Al Nasseri either, he said

"We are now in intensive discussions with OPEC headquarters
over this issue," he said.

Article 14 of the OPEC statute says: "The (OPEC ministerial)
conference shall elect a president and an alternate president at
its preliminary meeting. The alternate president shall exercise
the responsibilities of the president during his absence, or when
he is unable to carry out his responsibilities."

The statute further says: "The president shall hold office for
the duration of the conference and shall retain the title until
the next meeting."

Subroto interpreted the article as implicitly saying someone
was appointed OPEC president not as a person but as a minister.

As such, Indonesia's mines and energy minister should retain
the OPEC presidency despite the fact that Sudjana has left
office, he said.

Analysts say Al Nasseri's appointment would have an adverse
impact on oil prices because he is less inclined to reduce OPEC's
output ceiling.

But the market would favor an OPEC president from Indonesia
because the country speaks for the reduction of OPEC's output
ceiling to improve oil prices, the analysts say. (jsk)