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OPEC facing output cut choice at key meeting
AFP - Sunday, March 15
VIENNA (AFP) - - OPEC appeared set this weekend to trim output to energise weak oil prices -- or encourage its 12 member nations to fully implement recent deep production cuts.
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Algeria broke ranks to call explicitly for the cartel to slash output to boost prices, which have been slammed by weak demand arising from the global economic downturn.
Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Ibrahim al-Nuaimi said that the market was "not yet" balanced, indicating that supply was greater than demand on the eve of the crucial OPEC output meeting.
"Is the market balanced between supply and demand? Not yet," he told reporters upon his arrival in Vienna, but admitted that crude inventories were coming down.
OPEC has already slashed its output three times since September as it sought to breathe new life into battered oil prices.
Asked by reporters about whether he wanted OPEC to cut production, Algerian energy minister and former OPEC president Chakib Khelil replied: "Yes we would like to."
Questioned about whether he would favour an output cut or full compliance among OPEC nations with previous cuts agreed last year, he responded: "Both."
The price of oil has slumped by more than 100 dollars since rocketing to record high points above 147 dollars per barrel last July. In turn, that has slashed precious crude revenues for OPEC.
Al-Nuaimi added on Saturday: "Global oil demand in 2009 is significantly less than 2008."
Saudi Arabia is by far the biggest oil exporter in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which pumps 40 percent of the world's crude supplies.
When asked if there will be another cut, al-Nuaimi replied: "We will tell you tomorrow."
Hardline members Iran and Venezuela argued Saturday that the market was oversupplied, implying they could seek lower production on Sunday. But they did not specify whether they would call for a fresh cut.
Nigerian minister of energy Rilwanu Lukman added: "There is a lot of oil on the market... we want better prices."
OPEC is meanwhile facing calls to fully enforce last year's deep cuts that were targeted at boosting prices amid a widening global recession.
Al-Nuaimi added that compliance was "very good" among OPEC nations after they agreed late last year on cuts to reduce output by a total of 4.2 million barrels per day.
"Compliance is very good... Now it's over 80 percent," the Saudi oil minister said.
"It can be better. We like to see compliance as high as possible."
That means that OPEC has yet to remove 20 percent of the cuts -- or 800,000 barrels per day of production -- from the market. Venezuela had called Friday for "100 percent" compliance.
Saudi has previously stated that it regards 75 dollars per barrel as a "fair price" for crude -- but oil prices remain far below this level.
"You have to understand the world economy is not as healthy as it should, so we should expect demand worldwide to be down," al-Nuaimi added.
OPEC's official daily output quota currently stands at 24.84 million barrels after the last gathering in December in Oran, Algeria.
Iraq also pointed Saturday towards a production cut -- but the country is not part of OPEC's quota system owing to persistent unrest.
"If the demand is going to decline, then OPEC will have no choice but to reconsider its production levels," Iraq's oil minister Hussein al-Shahristani told reporters.
He added: "It seems that there is a decline of the demand and of course OPEC cannot keep on overproducing... there is no market for this production.
"What I can tell at this stage is that OPEC is producing more than the market can absorb".
For its part, Qatar said Saturday that OPEC countries must make sure that previous cuts in output are being adhered to before deciding further reductions.
Before the weekend, the International Energy Agency (IEA) -- which represents oil consumers -- warned in Paris that a further cut in output would accelerate the global economic crisis.
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OPEC headquarter in Vienna. The OPEC oil exporters' cartel appears set this weekend to either trim output or encourage its 12 member nations to fully comply with recent deep cuts that were aimed at boosting weak oil prices.
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