Venezuela, Saudi, Mexico Oil Mins To Meet June 9-Report

Thursday, June 5, 2003 01:52 PM ET     CARACAS -(<a href=www.quicken.com>Dow Jones)- Oil ministers of Venezuela, Mexico and Saudi Arabia will gather next Monday in Madrid to discuss current world oil markets and cooperation of non-OPEC oil producing nations, the state-run news agency Venpres said Thursday.

Venezuela's Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez was quoted as saying he would meet his Saudi Arabian counterpart Ali Naimi and Mexico's Ernesto Martens in the Spanish capital Monday. Ramirez is then also set to meet his Norwegian counterpart, although it isn't clear when and where that meeting would take place.

"This is a very important meeting because it allows us to study the world oil markets and the oil prices," Ramirez was quoted as saying. Ramirez couldn't be reached for additional comment. Oil ministers from the three countries have met on a regular basis during the past few years in an effort to coordinate oil output policy. Mexico, a major non-OPEC member, has been cooperating with OPEC.

The meeting of the three oil ministers comes just before the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, meets in Doha, Qatar, June 11. OPEC has to decide whether to curb production in an effort to anticipate the return of Iraqi oil exports.

OPEC in April decided to hike the ceiling to 25.4 million barrels a day while at the same time, it pledged to remove 2 million b/d from the market.

By Fred Pals, Dow Jones Newswires; 58212-5641339; fred.pals@dowjones.com;