KUWAIT, 19 October 2003 — The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) may consider hiking crude output if its reference basket price stays above $28 a barrel for 20 working days, Kuwaiti Energy Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahd Al-Sabah said yesterday.
“As a strategy we should act if the price would continue more than 20 days over $28 (a barrel); for that we are waiting,” Sabah told reporters at Kuwait International Airport after arriving from Malaysia where he was attending an Islamic summit.
“(OPEC) President Mr. (Abdullah Al-)Attiyah should start his communications and I think we still support our strategy. If you remember in the last month prices were above $28 for nine days but they came down.”
The OPEC basket has now been above $28 a barrel for about 6 working days. If prices stay at the current high levels, the 20th consecutive working day would be November 5th.
When asked if OPEC would raise output if prices stay above the top of the reference range of $22-28 a barrel he said: “I think so, yes. At least we will make some communications between (OPEC) members to see what we have to do.”
Oil prices have surged more than 20 percent in the weeks since the OPEC’s decision last month to cut oil production by 900,000 barrels per day, or 3.5 percent, to 24.5 million bpd from Nov. 1.
Regarding recent remarks from the International Energy Agency, the West’s energy watchdog, that OPEC is keeping prices too high and could hurt consumers, Sabah said: “OPEC is very keen also about the consumer.”
Asked if OPEC oil ministers could meet to discuss output policy even before a meeting scheduled for Dec. 4, he replied: “If there is a need.. This matter is in the hands of the (OPEC) president, not our hands.”
Sabah added that an early meeting had not been discussed by OPEC members.
He said a recent Venezuelan proposal for the organization to increase its reference price band by $3 or $4 a barrel has not been followed up with anything official from Caracas.
“We did not receive anything officially; it’s still in the media but we don’t act on press information,” he said. “When we receive something official we will study the situation.”