Kuwait"s Oil Minister, in remarks
published today, said there were no plans for an emergency OPEC
meeting to review oil policies after recent weakness in world
oil prices.
    Sheikh Ali al-Khalifa al-Sabah was quoted by the local
daily al-Qabas as saying: "None of the OPEC members has asked
for such a meeting."
    He denied Kuwait was pumping above its quota of 948,000
barrels of crude daily (bpd) set under self-imposed production
limits of the 13-nation organisation.
    Traders and analysts in international oil markets estimate
OPEC is producing up to one mln bpd above a ceiling of 15.8 mln
bpd agreed in Geneva last December.
    They named Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, along with
the much smaller producer Ecuador, among those producing above
quota. Kuwait, they said, was pumping 1.2 mln bpd.
    "This rumour is baseless. It is based on reports which said
Kuwait has the ability to exceed its share. They suppose that
because Kuwait has the ability, it will do so," the minister
said.
    Sheikh Ali has said before that Kuwait had the ability to
produce up to 4.0 mln bpd.
    "If we can sell more than our quota at official prices,
while some countries are suffering difficulties marketing their
share, it means we in Kuwait are unusually clever," he said.
    He was referring apparently to the Gulf state of qatar,
which industry sources said was selling less than 180,000 bpd
of its 285,000 bpd quota, because buyers were resisting
official prices restored by OPEC last month pegged to a marker
of 18 dlrs per barrel.
    Prices in New York last week dropped to their lowest levels
this year and almost three dollars below a three-month high of
19 dollars a barrel.
    Sheikh Ali also delivered "a challenge to any international
oil company that declared Kuwait sold below official prices."
    Because it was charging its official price, of 16.67 dlrs a
barrel, it had lost custom, he said but did not elaborate.
    However, Kuwait had guaranteed markets for its oil because
of its local and international refining facilities and its own
distribution network abroad, he added.
    He reaffirmed that the planned meeting March 7 of OPEC"s
differentials committee has been postponed until the start of
April at the request of certain of the body"s members.
    Ecuador"s deputy energy minister Fernando Santos Alvite said
last Wednesday his debt-burdened country wanted OPEC to assign
a lower official price for its crude, and was to seek this at
talks this month of opec"s pricing committee.
    Referring to pressure by oil companies on OPEC members, in
apparent reference to difficulties faced by Qatar, he said: "We
expected such pressure. It will continue through March and
April." But he expected the situation would later improve.
 REUTER