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