June 11, 2008 -
OPEC President Chakib Khelil said on June 11 that he was not opposed to a Saudi Arabian proposal for oil talks later this month but stressed that the role of speculators in energy markets must be the central topic of discussion, the official news agency APS reported.
"Algeria is not opposed to discussions between producers and consumers," said Khelil, who is also oil minister of Algeria, adding that oil producing countries "are always open to dialogue."
"It is not a bad idea to discuss not only the situation on the oil market but also rising production costs. While the price of oil has been on the rise, the cost of oil equipment and services has tripled in the last two years," Khelil said.
"We should also not neglect the central question, which is that of speculation" in energy futures markets, he added.
OPEC production up 370,000 b/d in May: Platts survey
OPEC production recovered in May to 32.24 million b/d, an increase of 370,000 b/d from April's 31.87 million b/d, a Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials showed June 10.
Production from the 12 members bound by output agreements rose 260,000 b/d to 29.75 million b/d in May, from 29.49 million b/d in April, the survey showed.
A sharp drop in Nigerian production was the main reason for the lower April numbers. Nigerian output, estimated at 1.86 million b/d in May, showed some recovery but was still well below pre-April levels of more than 2 million b/d. The biggest volume increases in May came from Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
Saudi output was estimated at 9.24 million b/d, up 140,000 b/d from April's 9.1 million b/d. Saudi Arabia said last month its June production would average 9.45 million b/d.
Iraqi volumes, which averaged 2.38 million b/d in April, rose to 2.49 million b/d in May, an increase of 110,000 b/d. Other smaller increases came from Angola, Ecuador, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE and Venezuela. The increases were partly offset, however, by output drops in Iran and Libya.
The survey shows the OPEC-12 exceeding their 29.673 million b/d target by 77,000 b/d. A senior OPEC delegate said June 9 that OPEC ceilings and quotas had become largely irrelevant and that OPEC had a "tacit" understanding that those members capable of boosting crude production should supply as much oil as world oil markets needed. Some countries were already raising output, he said.
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