OPEC output should remain unchanged

OPEC output should remain unchanged

Indonesia added its voice Tuesday to calls by leading OPEC
members to keep output quotas unchanged at the cartel's next
meeting in Vienna on Sept. 24.

OPEC - the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries -
should maintain its current production level to ensure crude oil
prices trade between US$22 and $28 a barrel, said Iin Arifin
Takhyan, director general of oil and gas at Indonesia's energy
ministry in Jakarta.

Last week, Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi and his Kuwaiti
counterpart said OPEC probably doesn't need to make any changes
to its output cap of 25.4 million barrels of oil a day because
the international oil market is well balanced.

In July, cartel members agreed to hold output steady and wait
until September before adjusting quotas in anticipation of the
return of Iraqi oil to the market.

Chronic security problems have hindered efforts to revive
Iraqi oil exports. But OPEC worries that a future flood of Iraqi
crude may drive world prices lower.

Iraq is one of OPEC's 11 members but hasn't participated in
the group's output quotas since international sanctions were
imposed against Baghdad in 1990. A new Iraqi government would
have to decide whether the country should stick with the cartel
or go it alone as an independent producer. -- JP