Mexico looking to OPEC before next move

Friday, May 30, 2003 · Last updated 7:33 p.m. PT <a href=seattlepi.nwsource.com>THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico will keep evaluating oil market conditions before making any decision to change its crude oil export levels, the country's energy department said Friday.

Mexico raised its exports to 1.88 million barrels per day beginning in February as concerns about Iraqi crude supplies and a strike in Venezuela caused world prices to soar.

When the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed last month that it would cut output in June, Mexico deferred a decision, saying it would wait to see market conditions at the time. Mexico isn't a member of OPEC, but has cooperated with the group on supply levels in recent years.

"The expectation of low growth in the main world economies, as well as the renewal of oil activity in Iraq, are elements that will impact, without any doubt, international oil market fundamentals," the energy department said.

The department said Mexico will monitor closely the results of the June 11 meeting of OPEC ministers, to which Mexico has been invited as an observer.

State oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, produces around 3.3 million barrels a day of crude oil. Of total exports, about four-fifths of that go to the United States.