Bodman says expects OPEC supplies to 'adequately meet demand'

Washington (Platts)--5Jan2006

US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman Thursday said he expected OPEC
producers to continue to meet world demand for oil.

     "I would hope and I expect that they will continue to supply oil to the
market to adequately respond to demand, and they have shown every sign of
doing that in my conversations," Bodman told reporters outside a conference
in Washington.

     Bodman was responding to remarks by a Gulf source Wednesday that it was
too early to say whether OPEC would cut production when ministers meet Jan 31
in Vienna. The source had cited the natural gas dispute between Russia and
Ukraine, settled Wednesday with the signing of long-term supply contracts for
supplies to Ukraine and for the transit of Russian gas via Ukraine to European
consumers, and the 180,000 b/d recent fall in Nigerian crude output due to an
attack last month on a Shell pipeline as factors OPEC was watching.

     Referring to the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute, Bodman said the US
government would continue to encourage its companies to explore business
opportunities in Russia. 

     "We are hopeful the Russians will learn from this experience and they
would be even more reliable in the future than they have been in the past,"
Bodman said. "But that's a judgment individual companies will have to make
themselves," he said.

     OPEC ministers meeting Dec 12 in Kuwait City agreed to maintain the
group's formal ceiling at 28-mil b/d for the time being review the situation
Jan 31 in Vienna.

     Some leading members of the cartel, including Iran, the second-biggest
OPEC producer after Saudi Arabia, have said they would favor a cut of 1-mil
b/d in the second quarter.

     OPEC's new acting secretary general, Mohammed Barkindo, said Thursday
there was no immediate need to cut crude output levels while prices hovered in
the low $60s/bbl.

		--Bill Loveless, bill_loveless@platts.com

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