Mon, June 11, 2012
VIENNA, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The President of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Abdul Kareem Luaibi expressed his concern on Monday over the "severe decline in prices" recently.
Last week, the average prices of OPEC fell to 96.63 U.S. dollars per barrel from a four-year high of 128 dollars in March, OPEC said, while supply from OPEC countries is running nearly 2 million barrels per day (bpd) above a self-imposed production ceiling of 30 million barrels per day.
"It's very clear there is a tremendous surplus that has led to this severe decline in prices in a very short time span," Luaibi said, adding that "this will not serve anyone."
In terms of the production, Luaibi said "we have our own view about the surplus, but it's not diplomatic to talk about if for the time being."
He said keeping the oil price at 100-120 dollars per barrel was "reasonable and acceptable," but declined to map out specific measures, if any, the Vienna-based cartel would take at the OPEC ministerial meeting on Thursday.
