Iran calls for new cut in OPEC oil output
12.03.06, 6:00 AM ET
TEHRAN (XFN-ASIA) - Iran's envoy to OPEC, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, has called on the oil cartel to agree a new oil output cut at its next meeting to counter an oversupply of crude, official news agency IRNA reported.
'Some factors like the decrease of world economic growth and accumulation of oil and stockpiles of its by-products indicate that the market needs a cut in OPEC oil output again,' IRNA quoted Kazempour Ardebili as saying Sunday.
'There is still oversupply in the market beyond the oil demand and with OPEC's output cut [agreed in October] all the global market demands have been covered,' he said.
The 11 members of OPEC are to hold a ministerial meeting in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Dec 14 to decide on a probable output cut in a bid to stabilize oil prices.
Kazempour Ardebili, the representative of OPEC's number two producer, predicted a possible new cut in output would be between 500,000 and 1 mln million barrels per day of crude oil.
'We should wait and see the developments of the crude oil market by the Dec 14 meeting of OPEC in Abuja,' Kazempour Ardebili said.
Nigerian Oil Minister and OPEC president Edmund Daukoru said Friday that he expected OPEC to cut its output quota by at least 500,000 barrels per day when it meets on Dec 14.
'When we meet, we will look at the data and the trend and I do not expect anything less at this meeting,' Daukoru told reporters.
At its last meeting in Qatar in October, OPEC approved a cut in its output quota of 1.2 mln barrels a day to stem falling prices, which have dropped from above 78.00 dollars in July.
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