AMSTERDAM, 25 May 2004 — Leading OPEC oil ministers, under fierce pressure to boost output, insisted yesterday they were seeking “a fair and decent price” for their crude as oil rates shot up 97 cents to climb back over the $40 a barrel level. “There is absolute support for cooperation among the consumers and producers to moderate the price to a fair and decent price,” Saudi Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi stressed here at a press conference closing an international energy forum. “I believe there is a commitment to this objective.”
The Group of Seven leading industrialized nations, each of them a nervous consumer, issued a direct appeal to oil producers over the weekend to boost output to bring down prices and preserve a fragile global economic recovery. The G-7 call on Saturday came as ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries conferred informally here on a Saudi proposal to raise OPEC’s output quota by two million barrels a day. But with traders and consumers anxiously awaiting a firm signal that more oil was on the way to market, the ministers decided to postpone any action until their next official gathering in Beirut on June 3.
Oil prices, after falling sharply Friday on the Saudi proposal, reversed direction both in New York and London yesterday. Brent North Sea crude for July delivery jumped 90 cents to $37.41 a barrel in heavy afternoon trading in London.
New York’s main crude oil contract soared $1.79 to finish at $41.72 a barrel yesterday, the highest closing level on record.
Earlier Monday, OPEC President Purnomo Yusgiantoro told reporters that any decision by the organization to increase production quotas next month must be big enough to have an effect on prices.