OPEC set to agree July ceiling hike, approve future move: sources

OPEC set to agree July ceiling hike, approve future move: sources

Vienna (Platts)--15Jun2005


OPEC talks underway in Vienna are expected to result in a 500,000 b/d increase
in crude output quotas that would take the group's formal ceiling to 28-mil
b/d from the beginning of July, and a further 500,000 b/d increase that could
be implemented after consultations led by OPEC president Sheikh Ahmed Fahed
al-Sabah, two senior OPEC delegates said Wednesday. 

Asked whether the two-stage increase was already "a done deal," one senior
delegate said: "Yes, it seems to be." He cautioned, however, that dynamics
could change in the closed session now underway and involving all 11 OPEC
members. Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi made similar comments earlier Wednesday.
Another senior delegate, asked what OPEC was likely to agree, said: "Five and
five," referring to 500,000 b/d from July and 500,000 b/d later. OPEC's
ministerial monitoring committee, which includes Iran, Kuwait and Nigeria, met
late Tuesday and agreed to recommend the two-stage increase to the conference.

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