Omani Oil Minister Mohammad al-Romhi on Tuesday urged OPEC to adopt a strategy guaranteeing the long-term stability of the oil market.
"OPEC must put in place a long-term strategic plan to protect both the interests of oil producers and consumers," Romhi told the official ONA news agency.
Romhi, whose country is not a member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) but coordinates policies with the cartel on production levels and pricing, will sit in on OPEC's next ministerial meeting in Vienna on September 10.
The minister, whose country produces some 900,000 barrels per day, also called for producer countries "to respect their quotas to preserve the stability of the market."
"There must be cooperation and stability on the markets in the interests of producers and consumers," he said, adding that a price of 25 dollars a barrel "would be in the interests of all".
Benchmark Brent North Sea crude for October delivery Monday was being traded at 32.45 dollars a barrel in London, and prices have been hovering around the highest levels since the 1991 Gulf War.
Under a new price-regulating mechanism, OPEC is expected to agree at the summit to raise production by 500,000 barrels per day, but analysts believe that this will have little effect on prices which have climbed as high as 35 dollars a barrel.—AFP
©--Agence France Press.
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
