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Opec set to keep oil output unchanged
Wed, Dec 05, 2007
Reuters

ABU DHABI, Dec 5 (Reuters) - OPEC on Wednesday is set to rebuff consumer country calls for more oil and leave supplies unchanged, delegates said, risking a rise in oil prices back towards $100 a barrel.

Two senior delegates from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said the group favoured no change in supply and another meeting in January ahead of their regular scheduled gathering in March.

"My understanding is that everyone is agreed there will be no change," said one delegate.

"That is what is likely," said another.

Oil ministers gather at 0700 GMT (1100 local time) and go into closed session at 0800 GMT.

Opec is under pressure from big consumers like the United States to raise output to help contain an oil price rally that saw crude hit a record above $99 a barrel on Nov. 21.

Expectations for an increase from the 13-member group that now includes Angola and Ecuador were one of the factors behind a reversal in prices to $88.50 on Wednesday.

Opec ministers have argued that its supplies are already sufficient for winter stocks and that speculators are to blame for pushing oil prices higher.

Producers point to a decline in the value of the U.S. dollar which makes dollar-denominated oil less expensive in non-dollar economies.

 

 
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