OPEC cannot do more to cool oil prices - Attiyah

www.forbes.com Reuters, 01.30.03, 6:47 AM ET OPEC    

DOHA, Jan 30 (Reuters) - OPEC President Abdullah al-Attiyah said again on Thursday that the oil producers' group had done all it could to control world crude prices driven higher by war fever. Attiyah, also oil minister of Qatar, said the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was pumping more than enough but the extra barrels could not negate the effect of the war threat on prices. "We are all concerned that high prices will harm the consumer and ultimately world economic growth. But there is nothing that OPEC can do about it," Attiyah told Reuters. "OPEC has no magic wand to solve the political problems and stop the rise in price." The threat of war in the Gulf region that supplies 40 percent of world crude exports and a strike that has cut oil supplies from Venezuela for nearly two months have pushed prices well beyond $30 a barrel. The OPEC President said the exporters' group had done its duty to keep global markets well supplied. "We as OPEC checked with all our customers whether they felt the shortage and whether they needed extra cargoes. The answer was no," he said. "Actually there is more oil in the market than the demand." Attiyah's concerns were shared by influential Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi and OPEC Secretary-General Alvaro Silva last weekend at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The cartel agreed earlier this month to raise output by 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) from February to cover the supply gap left by strike-bound OPEC member Venezuela. Attiyah and others in OPEC are concerned that prices could deflate quickly if Venezuelan exports are restarted and an anticipated assault on Iraq only cuts supplies briefly. The OPEC chief has warned that markets could be flooded with oil when the arrival of warmer weather in the northern hemisphere cuts demand just as the group has raised supply. OPEC is due to meet on March 11 to review its output levels.