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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
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OPEC moves to enforce new quota increaseORGANISATION of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) member states are likely to enforce a planned 500,000 bpd increase in their formal production target when the group meets on July 21, Nigeria�s top oil official said on Tuesday, �I can see the market is still strong so we will probably do it, �Nigeria�s Presidential Adviser on Petroleum, Edmund Daukoru told Reuters in an interview. The planned increase would take effect from August 1. The comments appear red to mark a shift in Daukoru�s thinking from earlier this month when he warned against releasing too much extra oil supply. Oil prices have jumped more than $3 since then, with U.S. crude back within a dollar of the $40 mark. Ali al-Naimi, Oil Minister in top OPEC exporter Saudi Arabia, said last week that OPEC would implement the planned quota increase. OPEC�s already pumping well above official limits to cool oil prices which have spent all year well above OPEC�s official $22.28 a barrel target range. OPEC�s own reference crude basket was last valued at $35.83 and Daukoru said that most OPEC members did not want prices to go back into the official band. �I think there is a majority (in OPEC) for prices somewhere above $28,�he said. �We are looking at a range of between upper and lower $30 but we are not likely to go below $28.� Nigeria is pumping about 2.5 million barrels per day, nearly 400,000 bpd above its formal quota, Daukoru said. It plans to add a further 300,000 bpd of production capacity over the next nine months, he said. Daukoru said that OPEC should be careful not to push production quotas up too much further later this year, especially if Iraqi production starts to recover from repeated sabotage attacks. �My recommendation is to be cautious. Take it a step at a time and watch,� he said.
Wednesday, July 14, 2004 |
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