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OPEC hasn’t decided on emergency meeting

Nigerian oil minister Edmund Daukoru said on Tuesday the OPEC oil cartel has made no decision on an emergency meeting.
/ Source: Reuters

Nigerian oil minister Edmund Daukoru said on Tuesday the OPEC oil cartel has made no decision on an emergency meeting.

“I am not aware of any meeting before March 15, neither of any emergency meeting,” Daukoru told Reuters on arrival for this week’s Petrotech conference in New Delhi.

“I think prices are low, the market is oversupplied,” he told Reuters. “There is a lot of non-OPEC production coming into the market.”

He estimated the total world oil market was oversupplied by about 1 million barrels per day, and said it was “too early to see the impact” of OPEC’s recent cuts in output.

The 12-member cartel cut production from November 1 by 1.2 million barrel per day, and an additional reduction of 500,000 barrels per day is due to take effect from February 1.

Prices have tumbled about 15 percent so far in 2006, partly because of mild weather in the United States.

“Oil demand is a concern,” Daukoru added. He cited slowing U.S. economic growth, strong non-OPEC output, and profit taking by hedge funds as other reasons for the recent decline in prices.

Fluctuations in prices make it difficult for producers to plan investments in oil infrastructure, he said.

Separately, the Nigerian oil minister said new OPEC member Angola, which joined this month, was left out of the most recent cuts, but would be required to participate in any future round of production cuts.