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OPEC agrees to slash output but oil price sinks
AFP - Thursday, December 18
ORAN, Algeria (AFP) - - OPEC oil ministers have approved a record output cut of 2.2 million barrels a day and looked to non-member oil producers to help them reverse the steady slide in crude prices.
Combined with cuts non-members Russia and Azerbaijan said they were prepared to implement, the OPEC move could eventually take about 2.8 million barrels a day off the oil market -- about 3.0 percent of current world production.
But the OPEC action announced on Wednesday failed to spark a rally on oil markets, with trading depressed by reports of rising crude reserves in the United States.
Oil has continued to trade near 40 dollars a barrel, at its lowest levels in more than four years, despite the oil cartel's massive production cut.
New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in January, was down five cents at 40.01 dollars a barrel, off a low of 39.19 dollars.
The contract closed at 40.06 dollars a barrel on Wednesday at the New York Mercantile Exchange, a decline of 3.54 dollars.
Brent crude oil for February delivery rose 10 cents to 45.63 dollars a barrel, off a low of 45.35, after falling 1.12 dollars to close at 45.53 Wednesday in London.
An OPEC statement said the reductions would become effective on January 1, taking the organisation's output target to 24.8 million barrels a day.
OPEC ministers called the meeting here to block a steady slide in oil prices, which are now 70 percent off their high points of 147 dollars a barrel in July, as demand dries up in recession-hit industrialised consuming nations.
Just before talks opened, non-members Russia, which attended the session, and Azerbaijan said they were ready to cut their own oil production by about 300,000 barrels a day each.
OPEC officials had earlier appealed to non-member producers to help them stabilise the market. OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem El-Badri said on Tuesday he wanted to see a cut of 500,000-600,000 barrels a day by non-members.
Global economic momentum since July, when oil rates were at their highest, has all but collapsed as financial sector turmoil, brought on the by US subprime mortgage crisis, spreads to the broader economy.
With some of the world's leading industrialised oil consumers -- notably the United States, Germany and Japan -- already in recession and others such as China experiencing sharp growth slowdowns, demand for crude has plunged.
The Paris-based International Energy Agency has said it expects global oil demand to fall this year for the first time since 1983.
The price fall is already placing significant financial strain on several OPEC producers -- Nigeria, Ecuador and Venezuela for example -- that are heavily dependent on oil exports.
The main problem facing OPEC is that whatever steps it takes to reduce supply to shore up prices risks dampening demand further, and a decision to spark a rise in price could be counter to the cartel's best interests.
David Ernsberger of global energy information provider Platts warned "if demand isn't somehow stimulated then all of these cuts are not going to help OPEC achieve what they really want to achieve," which is stopping the slide in prices.
At the same time, the only factor that would stimulate demand is lower prices, which OPEC resists, Ernsberger added.
"They are desperate for demand to return but they are part of the problem, not part of the solution."
The cartel is also confronting rising inventories in many consumer nations where economic activity has withered.
On Wednesday, for example, US crude reserves were reported to have climbed across the board last week, reflective of crumbling demand in the world's biggest energy consumer.
"There are a number of factors effecting the oil market," said BNP Paribas analyst Harry Tchilinguirian, cited by Dow Jones Newswires.
"The OPEC cut was slightly more than expected but the (US Department of Energy) data showed total US product demand was off almost five percent on year."
The department said US crude oil stockpiles rose by 500,000 barrels in the week ending December 12. That was five times market expectations for a gain of 100,000 barrels.
US reserves of crude oil are running about nine percent higher than at the same stage last year, according to the DoE.
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