VIENNA, (AFP) -OPEC oil ministers were to meet again Thursday to formalize an accord keeping their output unchanged despite slumping prices amid a weak global economy, slowed further by US terror attacks.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) ministers agreed to maintain the status quo in informal talks Wednesday clouded by the economic fallout from the September 11 attacks on the United States.
The talk before the meeting was of OPEC ensuring abundant oil supplies so as to keep prices in check and hence help the oil-dependent global economy recover from a sharp downturn.
But prices have fallen of their own accord, tumbling 20 percent since the terrorist strikes. On Wednesday, London crude prices fell below 21 dollars a barrel at one point to a near-two-year low.
OPEC's own market gauge, its basket price, slipped below 20 dollars a barrel for the first time since August 1999 on Tuesday.
Such vertiginous price slumps usually persuade OPEC to cut output. The cartel has slashed production thrice this year, skimming more than 10 percent off volumes to keep prices within its target 22-28-dollar range.
But despite stressing their desire to see 25-dollar oil again in the near future, most ministers were reluctant to call for cuts Wednesday. The move would risk appearing self-serving at a time when the global economy is still reeling from the devastating attacks on New York and Washington.
Analysts said that quota discipline was really the only option open to OPEC at present.
The OPEC ministers agreed to meet for a final formal session 2:00 pm Thursday, OPEC Secretary General Ali Rodriguez said, although more informal talks will be held from Thursday morning. (Read photo caption below)
Rodriguez also said the cartel will meet again in November, earlier than its next scheduled meeting, as well as next March, to review their production.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC'S, Secretary General Ali Rodriguez-Araque from Venezuela arrives at the OPEC'S headquarters in Vienna, Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2001 for an informal meeting of oil ministers. (AP Photo/Rudi Blaha)