http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=156518&version=1&template_id=48&parent_id=28
Published: Friday, 22 June, 2007,
VIENNA: Opec has rejected European Union calls to pump more crude so
consuming nations can replenish stockpiles and ease the impact of supply
disruptions from the Middle East and Africa.
"There is plenty of oil in the market, the stocks are very high, they are above
the five-year average," Abdalla el-Badri, the Opec secretary general said at a
meeting with EU officials at Opec headquarters in Vienna yesterday.
"If we add more oil, it will not go to the refineries, it will go to the stocks."
Officials of the 27-member EU, the second-largest oil consumer after the US,
said oil prices could hurt global economic growth. Crude was trading near a
nine-month high, close to $70 a barrel, in New York yesterday.
"I think it's pretty close to the upper limit of what would be tolerable for many
oil-consuming nations," said German Economy and Technology Minister Michael
Glos at the meeting in Vienna.
"Some economies find it harder than Germany to cope with, maybe.
I think Opec itself has an interest in the balance of the global economy."
The International Energy Agency, an adviser to oil-consuming nations,
said earlier this month that unrest in Nigeria and Iraq, both members of Opec,
is curtailing supplies as demand rises.
EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said a strike by oil workers in Nigeria
"could make a real impact" on supplies. "We should be vigilant, we should have a
mechanism to increase the supply of crude."
Crude oil has averaged $61 a barrel in New York so far this year, double the 2003 price.
The dispute between the West and Iran over the country's nuclear programme is also
weighing on prices; Iran is Opec's second-largest oil producer, after Saudi Arabia.
"The consumers want stocks to rise because they are worried about supply disruption,"
said John Hall, the director of UK-based energy consultants John Hall Associates.
"Opec doesn't want the stocks to increase in order to keep its control on prices."
The IEA, based in Paris, has estimated that Opec production fell by 425,000 bpd to
an average 30.1mn a day in May, after output halts in Nigeria and Iraq.
Opec agreed to reduce supplies from November last year by 1.7mn bpd to prevent
prices from falling below $60 a barrel.
The 12 members of Opec will discuss global supplies and whether to maintain their
curbs on output when it meets in September in Vienna.
Badri blamed the increase in prices on a reduction in refining capacity as demand for gasoline,
diesel and jet fuel peaks during the summer vacation season in the northern hemisphere.
Global oil demand is expected to rise 2% to 86.1mn barrels a day this year from 84.5mn barrels
a day in 2006, according to the IEA. The agency has raised its forecast for this year's call on Opec,
the amount of crude needed to balance supply and demand, by 500,000 barrels a day.
The EU's Piebalgs said in March a price of about $60 a barrel "corresponds to the supply and
demand balance," and encourages development of renewable energy without being "excessively high."
The EU wants to increase the proportion of renewable energy, such as wind and solar power,
in its energy mix to 20% in 2020 from 6.5% now, to reduce dependence on petroleum imports.
The region consumes 14.8mn barrels of crude a day, according to BP. That amounts to almost
half Opec's production. The drive to use renewable energy and biofuels may reduce investment
in oil exploration, Opec's Badri said.
"I'm afraid that the producer countries will not make their investments because they are receiving
negative signals," he said.
A US Senate bill that would allow the federal government to sue Opec under anti-trust laws won't
lower the price of oil, Badri also said. The bill, known as Nopec, passed this week.
US President George W Bush's advisers would recommend vetoing legislation that includes such a provision,
the White House said in a June 12 statement. The EU's Piebalgs said Europe had no intention of seeking
similar legislation. - Bloomberg
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3295456
Senate OKs plan to sue OPEC for price-fixing
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved
a plan that would enable the federal government to sue OPEC for price manipulation,
but the White House has threatened to veto the measure and opponents warned OPEC
members could retaliate by turning off the taps.
"The bill, sponsored by Democrat Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and Republican Arlen Specter
of Pennsylvania, would revoke the sovereign immunity members of the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries enjoy from U.S. legal action. It would allow the Justice Department
to sue OPEC nations in U.S. courts."
"With Americans frustrated at gasoline pump prices above $3 a gallon,
Congress members have called for America to insulate itself from foreign
oil producers like Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Iran."
"While OPEC enjoys its newfound riches the average American consumer
suffers every time he or she visits the gas pump or pays a home heating bill,"
Kohl said.
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1 US gallon = 3.78 liters | 3$ = 16,61kr. | 4,39kr. pr. liter benzin
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Jan Rasmussen