OPEC Ministers Hold Informal Discusssions
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GENEVA — Oil ministers from Organization of Petroleum Countries held informal discussions Thursday as preparations continued for Saturday’s formal gathering of the 13-nation cartel.
Disputes over prices, individual quotas and the overall daily production limit have all been cited as major topics on the agenda of what will be the fifth session of OPEC leaders this year.
In the background are fears of a possible price war erupting with the seasonal drop in demand for oil in the spring.
Warning of Price War
Ahmed Zaki Yamani, oil minister of Saudi Arabia, which controls half of OPEC’s reserves, and United Arab Emirates Oil Minister Mana Said Oteiba have been among those warning that a price war is inevitable unless all OPEC nations agree in Geneva to stop breaking the cartel’s price and production guidelines.
Nigeria’s oil minister, Tam David-West, predicted in a published interview Thursday that the world’s oil producers would avoid a price war. But he did say he expected the price of oil to fall to somewhere between $20 and $25 a barrel.
Yamani predicted previously that oil could fall below $20 a barrel from the current world market average of $29 in the event of a price war.
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