|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Monday March 22, 03:59
|
|
OPEC may postpone its plan to cut oil supply
|
|
|
April crude closed at $38.08 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 15 cents for the session, and up $1.89, or 5.2 percent for week. One of the main reasons oil futures closed at a 13-year high of $38.18 is that Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, Qatar's oil minister, said the OPEC may postpone its plan to cut oil supply on April 1.
``We will study the market situation next week, and if the situation warrants a change in plan, then we can do that,'' al-Attiyah said in an interview in Doha, Qatar. ``OPEC is keen to stabilize the market, and cannot be blamed for the high prices.''
OPEC agreed on Feb. 10 to cut output quotas by 1 million barrels a day, or 4 percent, starting next month because of concern that prices may fall in the second quarter after the end of the Northern Hemisphere winter. Crude oil reached $38.18 a barrel on March 17, two weeks ahead of OPEC's next meeting.
``Most U.S. refiners are working with minimum inventories, which is a big reason for the high prices,'' said the minister from Qatar, OPEC's smallest producer. ``They are waiting for the price to go down before building stocks, but it isn't dropping.''
OPEC will meet in Vienna on March 31 to review its second- quarter oil production policy.
``Qatar has informed its customers to expect lower nominations next month, but we have the option to change that,'' al-Attiyah said in the interview.
|
|
All funds news
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 KEYWORD SEARCH |
|
|
|
|
|
SUBSCRIPTION |
|
|
|
|
|