OPEC Downplays Market Concerns

www.voanews.com VOA News 11 Mar 2003, 09:10 UTC

OPEC oil ministers preparing to meet Tuesday in Vienna say there are adequate supplies of oil to sustain the market despite the looming threat of war in Iraq.

OPEC President Abdulllah bin Hamad al-Attiyah said late Monday he does not believe there is a shortage in the market. However, he added that the 11-nation cartel will do all it can to stabilize world oil markets, including raise prices if necessary, if a new Gulf war disrupts production.

Most OPEC ministers are expected to agree at today's meeting to maintain the cartel's overall output ceiling of 24.5 million barrels per day.

Crude prices have skyrocketed since January because of fears of a war in Iraq, which has the world's second-largest oil reserves, and a general strike in Venezuela that crippled production there.

World oil prices are creeping towards the all-time record of $41 a barrel reached during the 1991 Gulf war.