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OPEC goal: Maintain price range OPEC plans emergency meeting April 24 to curb runaway production by The Associated Press
Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi said April 9 that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will maintain its price range of US$22-US$28 a barrel.
"OPEC will certainly maintain the price range of the organization between US$22-US$28 a barrel," Naimi said in a statement obtained by The Associated Press.
Naimi also said that consultations were under way among OPEC member states to hold a ministerial meeting in the next few weeks.
The kingdom will not take a unilateral decision concerning oil production, but collectively with other member states, he added.
On April 8, a Saudi official said oil exporting countries meeting in Vienna later this month may decide to reduce crude oil production. OPEC members plan to hold an emergency meeting April 24 aimed at curbing runaway crude production to avert a possible price crash. The official said the kingdom will participate in the meeting with the aim of preserving oil market stability "to ensure the interests of producers and consumers."
Members will look at production The official said that OPEC members may decide at the meeting to cut production quotas if oil prices keep falling.
Oil prices have fallen sharply since peaking at almost US$40 a barrel on Feb. 27, before the outbreak of fighting in Iraq. May contracts of U.S. light, sweet crude fell to a low on April 7 of US$27.15 before rebounding to settle at US$27.96 for the day.
The Saudi official denied that Saudi Arabia, OPEC's biggest member, is behind the dwindling prices.
Kevin Norrish, head of commodities research at Barclays Capital, said in London that Saudi Arabia has made "a massive increase" in oil production output.
The Saudi official said his country has been in touch with the main exporting countries inside and outside OPEC during the past two days with the aim of keeping prices between US$22 and US$28 a barrel.
OPEC's minimum threshold is set at US$22.
Most OPEC members have been producing at maximum capacity to keep world oil supplies plentiful during the war.
However, oil ministers are increasingly worried that OPEC might be oversupplying the market just as demand starts falling to its seasonal low.
The Saudi official said the oil-rich Gulf state was "very worried" about the ongoing decline of oil prices due to supply exceeding demand.
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