Purnomo sees oil prices falling further

Purnomo sees oil prices falling further

Global oil supplies are back at normal levels and oil prices
should fall further after recent record highs, OPEC president
Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Friday.

"(Oil) supply is normal again, with adequate stocks ... we
expect prices to keep falling," Purnomo told reporters.

Asked if the downtrend will continue into the first quarter of
next year, he said demand for oil will rise but OPEC's production
should be sufficient to meet the demand.

Oil prices slid for a third day running Friday as speculators
banked profits ahead of next week's U.S. presidential election
amid easing supply fears and China's move to hike interest rates,
analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in
December, edged down two cents to US$50.90 a barrel in electronic
trading.

In London the price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery
in December lost 29 cents to $48.08 a barrel in early deals.

New York's main contract tumbled $1.54, or 2.9 percent, to
finish at $50.92 a barrel on Thursday, a loss of 7.7 percent
since Tuesday's close.

Purnomo said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
had yet to decide whether to raise its output quota again when
the members meet in Cairo in December.

At its previous meeting in Vienna last month, OPEC raised the
quota by one million barrels per day to 27 million.

Earlier this week, Purnomo said OPEC's production was already
exceeding the quota by two million barrels per day. -- AFP