Word: petroleum
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Those words by Subroto, the Indonesian Oil Minister and the current president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, show how the once mighty oil group has fallen. Only a few years ago, whenever OPEC met, the world anxiously waited in fear that the petroleum producers were about to raise oil prices again. But last week at an emergency meeting in Geneva, OPEC struggled to avoid slashing prices once more. Rather than reduce the cost of crude, the ministers adopted a plan to reduce temporarily their production ceiling from 17.5 million bbl. per day to 16 million...
...last week's hastily arranged gathering as "just a meeting of old friends." But as everyone present knew, the coy assessment by Mani Said al-Oteiba of the United Arab Emirates understated the gravity of the situation. Ministers from six of the 13 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries huddled for 1½ days last week at Geneva's Inter-Continental Hotel to devise a scheme to halt the slide in oil prices. The cartel's current crisis began two weeks ago, when OPEC member Nigeria followed price cuts made by nonmembers Norway and Britain...
...deeply indebted oil-producing countries, including Venezuela, Indonesia and Ecuador, a decline in prices would be painful. In Mexico, which depends on petroleum sales for 70% of its exports, a $2-per-bbl. price cut would produce a $ 1.1 billion drop in an annual oil income of $15 billion. Thus Mexican officials accompanied Yamani on his travels last week even though their country is not an OPEC member. Yamani announced that both Mexico and Egypt said they would cut their own output in support of OPEC's plan...
Nigeria's decision made it more likely that other restless members, like Abu Dhabi, will tear away, possibly leading to anarchy among OPEC members and a sharp slide in oil prices. "This has got to panic every oil-producing nation," says Lawrence Goldstein, executive vice president of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation. "In the next few days we will find out what OPEC is made of." Most oil-industry insiders believe, though, that the group will try to avoid cutting its price, at least by much. Their shared interest in keeping world petroleum prices stable will help resolve many...
Together, the statements appeared to complicate the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' desperate effort to stave off the second official price reduction in the past 19 months...