UAE minister says U.S. asks OPEC to boost oil production

Only wide volatility in market would lead to increase, official says after request from U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson

by The Associated Press

United Arab Emirates oil minister Obaid bin Saif al-Nasseri said May 15 that the United States has again asked OPEC to increase oil production when it meets June 21 in Vienna.

He said the U.S. request was conveyed to him at a meeting Sunday with a team of U.S. officials led by David Goldwyn, assistant energy secretary for international affairs.

Speaking to reporters, Al-Nasseri said he received a letter from U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson dealing with mutual energy cooperation and said his talks with the delegation covered various energy issues including the situation in the world oil market.

Al-Nasseri didn’t say by how much the United States wants OPEC to increase production or give any further details about the talks.

“We are satisfied with the price levels and we hope it will stabilize at these current levels,” Al-Nasseri said.

Asked about a further increase in OPEC production, he said “It’s not possible. Only in case of a wide volatility in the market.”

On May 12, Richardson urged OPEC to keep “an open mind” about increasing crude output at its June meeting and said he plans to continue with diplomatic efforts such as those that he said contributed to producers’ decision to raise output in April.

OPEC boosted production in April

At that meeting, OPEC was under pressure from the United States, which lobbied heavily to make OPEC increase production.

U.S. oil prices peaked on March 8 at $34.37 per barrel in advance of the last OPEC meeting, triple what the price was just a year earlier when OPEC slashed production.

In trading May 15 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the June contract for West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 30 cents to close at $29.92 a barrel.

But that was still up from its closing level of $26.45 a barrel on March 29 when OPEC agreed to boost production.