OPEC may delay quota talks

OPEC may delay quota talks

JAKARTA: OPEC's president said on Wednesday the cartel might
postpone discussions on cutting oil production quotas until a
clear picture of supply and demand emerges in the first quarter
of 2005.

Purnomo Yusgiantoro told reporters in Jakarta that as demand
was expected to recede from the runaway levels that had recently
driven up crude prices, OPEC members would wait until after their
meeting in Cairo on Friday to discuss cuts.

"We may do it (cut the quota), pending the situation in the
first quarter," Yusgiantoro, who is also Indonesia's energy
minister, said when asked about quota levels.

"My feeling is we'll have to wait to see the situation in the
first quarter because winter will still be around then," he said.
-- AFP