Iraq urges OPEC production cut

by The Associated Press

Iraq has urged the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut oil production by 1 million barrels a day to “achieve stability” in the world market and raise prices. Oil Minister Amer Mohammed Rasheed told the official Iraqi News Agency Oct. 16 that the swift decline in OPEC oil prices will harm the group’s members and other developing nations that export oil. The average price of crude oil in OPEC countries hit a two-year low of $19.61 per barrel on Oct. 11.

Iraq “has urged OPEC members to adopt decisive and instant measures to protect their interests in order to achieve stability in the market,” Rasheed said.

He accused some other OPEC member states of causing the fall in prices by failing to stick to production quotas. He did not name the nations he blamed.

“Despite the decisions taken by OPEC at the beginning of this year to cut its oil output by 3.5 million barrel per day, yet the actual production decrease was only about 1 million a day,” he said.

In a meeting last month, OPEC decided not to change production levels, saying it did not wish to aggravate a fragile world economy after the attacks.

The group is scheduled to meet Nov. 14 to re-evaluate the market, and Rasheed urged OPEC countries to commit to their agreed production levels as a “temporary measure” until then.