OPEC President plays down Bush vow to cut Middle East oil imports

Vienna (Platts)--8Mar2006

OPEC President Edmund Daukoru Wednesday played down the impact on the
cartel's members of US President George W. Bush's pledge to cut oil imports
from the Middle East, saying it did not necessarily reflect the thinking of
the largest US oil companies.

     In his annual State of the Union address in January, Bush said he wanted
to reduce the US' oil imports from the Middle East by 75% by 2025.

     "As to the State of the Union message, you know that Congress is going
through election time now. It is election year for Congress, and the statement
reflects domestic thinking," Daukoru told a press conference after OPEC's
ministerial meeting in Vienna.

     "Policy makers can have a view but corporate America can equally have
another view," Daukoru said, specifically mentioning Chevron and ExxonMobil by
name. "So depending on who you talk to in the US, the views vary. We have no
reason to necessarily take what the President says as America speaking," said
Daukoru, who is also Nigeria's oil minister.

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