OPEC could consider output cut in March if surplus: President

www.hindustantimes.com Agence France-Presse Davos (Switzerland), January 25

The president of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries on Saturday said the oil cartel could consider a cut in output when it meets in March, to counter a potential surplus in supply.

"By March we will see a three million (barrels per day, bpd) surplus...For sure if there is a surplus we will look at cutting (output)," OPEC president Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah said.

Al-Attiyah was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting on security of oil supply in the light of a possible war on Iraq, on the third day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Attiyah, who is Qatar's Minister of Energy and Industry, told the forum there was speculation that a US-led war on Iraq could take 2.5 million bpd off the market and OPEC had reacted to balance demand and supply by raising production several times over past months.

But OPEC customers were not short of oil.

"There is no shortage of supply," he said. I asked (consumers) one question: 'Do you need more oil... ?' They answered no.

"On March 11, when OPEC will meet again, I think they (OPEC) will face a lot of difficulties with a huge surplus of oil."

The possibility of an end to a lengthy oil workers' strike in heavyweight Venezuela and the reduction in the need for heating fuel as the northern hemisphere winter drew to a close meant there could be two million bpd back on the market shortly, he said.

Attiyah said fears about security of supply -- that this week pushed world oil prices beyond the OPEC price band of $22-28 a barrel to around $33 -- were not always well founded.

In New York, light sweet crude March-dated contracts rose to $33.28 per barrel yesterday. The price of benchmark Brent North Sea crude oil for March delivery closed up at $30.25 per barrel in London.