OPEC
Likely to Keep Prices, Production Steady
Vienna, Jan. 29 2005 (VOA News) --
OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries, is not expected to make any big changes
in production quotas at a meeting Sunday in
Vienna.
Recent
cold weather in the United States and Europe
has boosted the demand for heating oil, and
led to strong oil prices. Oil ministers from
OPEC member countries say they expect to stick
with current production levels.
Analyst
Ehsan Ul-Haq of PVM oil in Vienna says OPEC
ministers are likely to resist cutting production,
at least for February and March.
"I
think, they will probably do nothing, because
OPEC's reference basket has increased by more
than nine dollars since their last meeting in
Cairo, and it will not be easy to justify any
cut. And, because of this, I don't think they
will change their production quotas," he
said.
Mr.
Ul-Haq says most OPEC members are exceeding
official production quotas, and prices were
within reach of $50 a barrel this week, but
he says this could soon change.
"I
think prices will go down a bit, because temperatures
are expected to be above normal in the United
States and the North East, and in Asia demand
is not as high as in the past two quarters,"
he added.
OPEC
will meet again in March in Isfahan, Iran, to
review prices and production.
- Marlene
Smith
- Voice of America
--
Reprinted with the permission of Voice of America
|
