OPEC looks at changing composition of basket to include 11 crudes

OPEC looks at changing composition of basket to include 11 crudes

London (Platts)--22Dec2004


OPEC has been studying not only the question of whether it should raise the
target price band for its basket of crudes but also whether it should change
the composition of the basket, delegates from the oil producers' cartel tell
Platts. 

One proposal, sources said, would see the current seven-crude basket,
which includes one non-OPEC grade, replaced by an 11-crude version that would
represent each member country. The current basket, which includes six OPEC
crudes and one non-OPEC grade, has often been criticized in the past as being
unrepresentative of the crude produced by OPEC. The six OPEC crudes are
Algeria's Saharan Blend, Indonesia's Minas, Nigeria's Bonny Light, Saudi
Arabia's Arab Light, the UAE's Dubai crude, and Venezuela's Tia Juana Light.
Non-OPEC Mexico's Isthmus is the seventh grade in the basket, but hardly any
of it is exported.

More details were published in Platts Global Alert
(http://www.globalalert.platts.com)

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