Saudis 'determined' to bring down price of oil: Saudi advisor

New York (Platts)--3Jun2004

Saudi Arabia is currently producing in excess of 9-mil b/d of crude and will
make additional barrels available if needed to bring down world oil prices
that are "clearly not acceptable," a Washington-based foreign affairs advisor
to Crown Prince Abdullah said Thursday. Adel Al-Jubeir, in a statement
released by the Saudi Embassy in Washington, also said the kingdom is working
with other OPEC producers to bring prices back down to the cartel's target
range of $22-$28/bbl. "We are determined and we are committed to providing
enough oil to satisfy demand for crude oil," Al-Jubeir said. "Our oil
production has been increased to more than 9-mil b/d. We have signaled to our
customers that if they need additional barrels we will make them available."
He added the Saudis and OPEC "will do whatever we can to make sure that there
is no shortage of crude oil."

The statement from the Saudi Embassy comes after OPEC earlier Thursday in
Beirut decided to increase its formal crude output ceiling by 2-mil b/d to
25.5-mil b/d from July 1, and by an additional 500,000 b/d from Aug 1. The
second phase of the two-part increase is subject to a review by the cartel at
its July 21 meeting in Vienna. Al-Jubeir acknowledged the recent high prices
have hurt consuming nations by slowing economic growth, and said producers
will eventually feel the pain when high prices cause demand to fall. "Today,
we are seeing $42 oil. This price is clearly too high," he said. "It is
clearly not acceptable, and we are determined to do whatever we can, in
conjunction with the other OPEC countries, to bring it down." July crude on
the New York Mercantile Exchange settled down 68 cts Thursday at $39.28/bbl,
as the market digested the OPEC deal and a 2.8-mil bbl build in US crude
stocks as reported by the Department of Energy.

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