Most OPEC members back quota increase
Most OPEC members back quota increase
JAKARTA (JP): The majority of the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) member countries support the proposal
to increase output quotas, Minister of Mines and Energy I.B.
Sudjana told reporters yesterday.
Sudjana said he believed OPEC ministers would reach a
compromise on the proposed quota increase during the current OPEC
Ministerial Conference at Dharmawangsa Hotel, South Jakarta.
"All the delegates are intensively searching for a compromise
through bilateral talks," Sudjana said.
The 103rd Conference, which opened yesterday and will last
until Monday, also chose yesterday Sudjana as OPEC's new
president to replace Qatar's Minister of Energy and Industry
Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah for six months until the next
conference.
Sudjana refused to name the member countries which remained
opposed to the quota increase.
Sudjana also refused to reveal Indonesia's position over the
quota increase but he said Indonesia had the capacity to raise
production if OPEC agreed to increase its quota.
The state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina earlier said
Indonesia was able to raise its oil production to 1.5 million
barrels per day (bpd), from its current quota of 1.33 million
bpd.
The OPEC quota stands at 25.033 million bpd, compared with the
world's demand of 73.48 million bpd.
OPEC groups Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait,
Libya, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Iran and
Nigeria.
The quota issue was first raised by Saudi Arabia, the world's
largest oil producer, which proposed to increase the OPEC quota
to capitalize on the projected increase in the world's oil demand
next year.
However, in the beginning most member countries disagreed with
the proposal for fear that the quota increase would dampen oil
prices.
In a related development, OPEC governor for Indonesia Purnomo
Yusgiantoro said yesterday OPEC's Ministerial Monitoring Sub-
Committee (MMSC), which met from Tuesday to yesterday afternoon
to prepare for the OPEC Ministerial Conference, found that many
OPEC members had produced more than their quota but that the
market could absorb the overproduction.
He said the market's ability to absorb the overproduction
could be seen from stable oil prices which ranged between US$18.5
and $19 per barrel from April to November this year.
The subcommittee, which is made up of Iran, Indonesia and
Nigeria, is in charge of monitoring the compliance of member
countries with their existing quotas.
The subcommittee compares the primary data provided by each
member country with the secondary data from six oil production
monitoring agencies including the Energy Information Agency and
the International Energy Agency.
Purnomo said both the primary and secondary sources provided
different figures on OPEC production and the growth of the
world's oil demand.
According to the secondary data, the world's demand for OPEC
oil would stand between 27 million bpd and 27.5 million bpd next
year while the OPEC secretariat general put the demand at 26.5
million bpd, Purnomo said. (jsk)
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