Word: opec
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...Hotel Inter-Continental overlooking Buckingham Palace, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries last week struggled for its survival as the premier power in world oil markets. Said Algeria's Energy Minister, Belkacem Nabi: "We all recognize that this is a very important meeting, unique in the history of OPEC." A global oil glut has driven the spot price for Saudi Light crude to about $28 per bbl. That is well under OPEC's official benchmark price of $34 per bbl. but not low enough to suit refiners, who in the U.S., for example, are able to sell what...
...prices grew increasingly intense. The Soviet Union lowered the price of its crude exports to Western European customers by $1.25 per bbl., to $28, the second cut in six weeks. British Petroleum, one of the companies that pump Britain's oil, added to the pressure on OPEC by arguing that North Sea crude should be priced at least 750 per bbl. lower than Nigeria's high-quality Bonny Light. North Sea oil now sells for $30.50, higher than the Nigerian price of $30 that was set last month when Nigeria became the first OPEC nation to break ranks...
...discussions in London revolved as much around questions of production as questions of price. OPEC production has dropped dramatically, probably below levels that are politically and economically feasible for most of the group's members. In 1977 OPEC nations were pumping at a rate of 31.3 million bbl. a day. Now production has dropped to only about 14 million bbl., and in spite of that the market remains squishy. Saudi Arabia has taken the brunt of the cutbacks. Its production is currently only 3.3 million bbl. a day, roughly a third of its rate of 9.6 million...
...Mexicans apparently will go along. In Paris last week, Mexican officials huddled with OPEC representatives from Venezuela, Algeria and Kuwait. According to OPEC sources, the Mexicans indicated that they would follow the organization's lead on pricing and hold their production to 1.5 million bbl. a day, no higher than the average level of last year...
...Says McKie: "It's a matter of national security." But the Administration is against imposing such a tax any time soon. Said Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige: "Why not give the consumer a break?" The White House apparently wants the public to reap all it can from OPEC's travails...