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.

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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.