OPEC president Purnomo urges oil producers

OPEC president Purnomo urges oil producers

to pump more

Jakarta (Platts)--22Sep2004


OPEC president Purnomo Yusgiantoro Wednesday urged oil producing countries to
boost their crude output in order to dampen the latest surge that has taken US
crude prices back up close to $47/bbl. "We call [on] those which can produce
more to help and support world oil supply," Purnomo, who is Indonesia's oil
minister, said. Purnomo blamed the renewed oil price climb on production
losses in the Gulf of Mexico caused by Hurricane Ivan and on the continuing
uncertainly over the future of Russian oil giant Yukos, which produces around
1.7-mil b/d of crude. OPEC ministers meeting in Vienna last week agreed to
raise the current crude output ceiling by 1-mil b/d to 27-mil b/d from the
beginning of November. But OPEC's decision will not put new barrels on the
market, because actual output is running at around 1-mil b/d above the new
ceiling. A Platts survey earlier this month estimated output by the ten
members bound by quotas, excluding Iraq, at 27.97-mil b/d in August. Including
Iraq, the survey estimated total OPEC output in August at 29.75-mil b/d.

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