Not content with its recent string
of failures trying to pump up the price of oil, the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries is looking to extend its losing streak by possibly
announcing yet another round of “cuts” in oil production at
its annual meeting in June.
“If the oil price stays where
it is now there will be a lot of talk about further cuts and we don’t
rule out any possibility,” said OPEC President Obeid bin Saif al-Nasseri
in an April 25 Associated Press report. “If it is necessary, I think
this can happen.
Good luck. When Nasseri made this
statement, crude oil for June 1998 delivery was selling at a mere $13.90
a barrel in London, down from $20 a barrel last year. This in spite of
announced production “cuts” agreed to by OPEC and non-OPEC nations
at a March meeting in Riyadh.
Nasseri told the Associated Press
that OPEC wants to see oil prices above the $20 a barrel price point.
Don’t hold your breath waiting
— with more Iraqi oil hitting the market, relatively warm weather and
declining demand for oil in Asia, Nasseri and the other OPEC nations might
have to wait a long time to see oil as high as $20 a barrel again.