OPEC split over potential production cut

OPEC split over potential production cut

OPEC countries were split on Tuesday over a potential cut in
production to allow for Iraq coming back on stream, while non-
OPEC Mexico said there was no need to tighten the tap.

Abdullah al-Attiyah, president of the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), said the cartel would
consider a cut at its meeting on Wednesday in Qatar's capital,
Doha.

"Now is the right time for OPEC to study how to accommodate
Iraq, how to make room for Iraq, by, you know, cutting production
from others," Attiyah, also Qatar's oil minister, told reporters.

"We should not wait until the crisis comes" before
reconsidering the current output ceiling of the cartel, 25.4
million barrels per day (bpd), he said.

2. 16energy
2 x 25

ASEAN, East Asia need
stronger energy security

ASEAN, East Asia warn on need for stronger energy security

Top energy officials and experts from Southeast Asian nations
and China, Japan and South Korea warned on Tuesday of the need to
strengthen energy security in the face of growing demand.

They called for "individual and multilateral efforts for
greater emergency preparedness in the short-term, greater energy
efficiency, diversification of types and sources and development
of indigenous petroleum in the long term".

The recommendation came at the end of a two-day meeting of
officials and oil company experts from the 10-member Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and their northern
counterparts who together make up a grouping known as ASEAN-plus-
Three.