Saudi, Mexico, Venezuela Gather for Madrid Oil Talks (Update1)
June 6 (<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg) -- Oil ministers from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Mexico are gathering today in Madrid for a meeting to discuss crude oil prices and consider the return of Iraqi crude to world markets.
The meeting precedes a gathering Wednesday of OPEC in Doha, Qatar, to consider whether to reduce supply. Crude oil in New York has risen 20 percent in the past month to more than $30 a barrel, reducing expectations of a cut. Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, in Madrid today, wouldn't comment on the meeting.
Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Mexico, which isn't a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, have consulted on oil policy since 1998, helping to lift prices from $10 a barrel in December of that year. They are usually among the top five suppliers to the U.S., the world's biggest oil consumer.
Venezuelan oil minister Rafael Ramirez said the meeting in Spain would ``establish cooperation in case there is an oil cut,'' Venezuela's state news agency Venpres reported yesterday. According to Venpres, the meeting was scheduled for Monday.
Ten OPEC members, all except Iraq, agree to restrain oil output to bolster prices. OPEC's oil benchmark last went for $26.77 a barrel, toward the upper end of the group's target range of $22 and $28 a barrel.
Meetings between Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Mexico have sometimes led to pledges to cut supplies from OPEC and outside producers. The trio met in April 2002 to discuss the oil market in the Mexican coastal resort of Puerto Vallarta. That meeting didn't result in any output-cut pledges.
Mexico's energy minister, Ernesto Martens, said on May 29 that his country will announce on July 15 whether it will increase or reduce oil exports, El Financiero newspaper reported. There are signs demand may decline, the minister said.
OPEC, which pumps a third of the world's oil, has already agreed to lower supply by 2 million barrels a day to 25.4 million barrels a day starting June 1.