OPEC output needs to stay at current level

OPEC output needs to stay at current level: US EIA chief

Washington (Platts)--9Dec2004


OPEC should not move to curb output levels at its meeting Friday in Cairo, the
head of the US Department of Energy's statistical division said Thursday. "I
think given where inventories are, OPEC production needs to stay where it is.
That would be our view," Guy Caruso, chief of the US Energy Information
Administration, told reporters following the release of the agency's annual
energy outlook. A cut in OPEC output would "make it more difficult to get"
inventory levels back into a more-normal range, Caruso said. "We still think
inventories are too low" in the industrialized countries of the OECD and in
the US, "although there has been some improvement in recent weeks," Caruso
said. OPEC ministers arriving in Cairo Thursday a day ahead of the group's
formal conference gave near-unanimous support to a move to rein in excess
production above nominal output quotas in response to the recent fall in oil
prices, although most ministers said they expected the 10-member output
ceiling of 27-mil b/d to be left in place for the time being.

Please visit: www.platts.com

Their coverage of energy matters is extensive!!.