Saudi Arabia’s oil minister said on Saturday that current global oil prices are “perfect,” as several key Arab Opec members indicated the group was unlikely to change output levels when it meets later this month.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which supplies
roughly 35 per cent of the world’s crude, has held its quotas unchanged
since last year’s record 4.2 million barrels per day in cuts.

“The price is perfect,” said Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al Naimi, whose
country sits atop the world’s largest proven oil reserves and is Opec’s
most influential member.

Speaking on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Organisation of
Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, Al Naimi said the market is stable
and “volatility is at a minimum.”

Since last December, Opec has focused on boosting compliance with output quotas of its 12 member states.

The group’s approach has helped oil prices rebound to almost $80 per
barrel recently, after they collapsed last year as the world’s worst
recession in decades sapped demand for crude.

The benchmark crude oil contract for January delivery settled at $75.47
a barrel on Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, hitting a
seven-week low on high global inventories and the strong dollar.

Ministers from several key Arab Opec nations, however, indicated that
they were satisfied with the current market situation and said it was
unlikely the group would change quota levels at its December 22 meeting
in Luanda, Angola.

“No, no, no, I don’t expect anything,” said Shukri Ghanem, the head of
Libya’s National Oil Corp. who serves as the North African nation’s de
facto oil minister. “I think because… of the market situation,
because of the fluctuation of the market, we don’t expect any change in
the quota.”

Ministers from Kuwait, Algeria and Qatar echoed those sentiments.

Kuwaiti oil minister Shaikh Ahmed Al Abdullah Al Sabah said he believes
there is a consensus among the Arab Opec members that there will be no
major changes.

Shaikh Ahmed said, however, he was dissatisfied with current compliance
with production targets by some Opec countries, stressing that level
needed to be above 65 per cent but was now near 60 per cent.

He did not mention, though, who?????????? was overproducing.

The comments came against a backdrop of broader concerns by oil
producers that an upcoming international climate change summit in
Copenhagen — aimed at brokering an agreement on emissions reductions —
could be used to undermine interests of oil producers.

Oil producers worry they are being scapegoated, and that the net result
of any agreement will come at their expense amid a push to reduce
dependence on crude, their chief export.

Saudi Arabia has said it would like to see some sort of compensation
paid to producers, a sentiment that appears to have found support among
some other Opec members.

“They’re already proposing how to increase tax on… gasoline” and
other petroleum products,” said Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah bin Hamad
Al Attiyah.

Opec has said it wants to see crude in the $70-$80 per barrel range, a
level which Saudi Arabia’s king had first indicated was high enough to
encourage producers to continue their work while not shocking the
world’s economy.

Source: Associated Press

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