Dubai (Platts)--21Feb2008

Current oil prices, which topped $100/barrel for the second time this
year, were not in line with fundamentals and there was no way that OPEC would
cut production given the current price and market conditions, an OPEC source
said Thursday.
However, it was premature to predict what decision OPEC ministers would
adopt at a March 5 meeting in Vienna to determine production levels for the
second quarter of the year, the source said.
"The decision will be taken when we meet. Anybody trying to guess it now
is wrong. Personally, I think there is no way that OPEC will cut at this price
and the situation being what it is. That is my personal feeling," the source
said.
The source was responding to a suggestion by Iranian oil minister
Gholamhossein Nozari that OPEC should cut production because demand
traditionally falls during the second quarter of the year.
But the source admitted that the producers' club faced a dilemma given
expectations of a fall in demand for crude oil with prices trading at record
highs.
March crude futures on NYMEX settled Wednesday at an all-time high
$100.74/b as the contract for March delivery expired.
New front month April light sweet US crude oil futures traded at $99.81/b
at 0937 GMT Thursday, up slightly from Wednesday's settlement of $99.70/b.