Opec is maintaining present production, despite benchmark crude prices rising well above 100/bl. Producers say they are worried about rising stocks and the threat of a potential US economic recession spreading to parts of the developing world where oil demand is rising, but did not cut output. Mideast Gulf Opec members are still producing well above quota to meet customer demand. For the last two months, Saudi Arabia has been producing over 250,000 b/d above its 8.9mn b/d Opec target. And the five Mideast Gulf Opec members that take part in output agreements together produced 400,000 b/d above their allocation in January-February. The organisation has agreed not to cut production, even when many of its members are pointing to an expected seasonal fall in demand in the second quarter. "What Opec has done is give the economies the benefit of the doubt," the group's president, Chakib Khelil, says.
展开▼
