http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/01/content_10924126.htm
Iran's oil minister sees no OPEC output cut in March
TEHRAN, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari said that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries(OPEC) would not cut its output in March, the satellite Press TV reported on Sunday.
"I do not think we move towards cutting production again. Instead, a mechanism should be defined to repair prices in the oil market," Nozari was quoted as saying.
In an earlier attempt to stabilize the world oil market, OPEC agreed in December to "cut production by a record 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd), taking total curbs since last September to 4.2 million bpd, the equivalent of 5 percent of global oil supply."
The 12-member oil cartel, which pumps nearly 40 percent of global supply, is due to hold an ordinary meeting on March 15 in the Austrian capital of Vienna to bolster sagging oil prices under the global economic slowdown.
"OPEC will review the oil market at the Vienna summit and will decide about its production policy in view of the world economic growth in this year and 2010," said Nozari.
Quote from InvestVision:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ag0zqWPfbaVM&refer=home
- OPEC gave conflicting signals on their intentions to further cut on 3/15
- Net Long positions fell by 16,267 contracts, or 36 percent, from a week earlier.
1) Officials from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the supplier of 40 percent of the worldâs oil, gave conflicting signals on their intentions to further cut output to bolster prices when they meet in Vienna on March 15.
The group âwill likelyâ reduce supplies to support prices when it gathers, Algerian Oil Minister Chakib Khelil said on Feb. 28 in Algiers.
OPEC Production
Yesterday, Iranâs oil minister said OPEC is unlikely to lower crude production when it meets.
âI donât believe we will go toward another production cut,â Gholamhossein Nozari said in comments posted on the Web site of state-run Iranian Students News Agency. âIn this meeting we will need to review the economic situation in 2009 and 2010.â
Crude oil, which fell to a five-year low of $33.87 on Dec. 19, has rebounded as OPEC restricted supply. At its last meeting in December, members agreed to a record 9 percent reduction in supply targets effective Jan. 1, extending two earlier resolutions to curb production as the global economy sank into a recession, straining the budgets of crude exporters.
COT:
Hedge-fund managers and other large speculators decreased their net-long position in New York crude-oil futures in the week ended Feb. 24, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.
2) Speculative long positions, or bets prices will rise, outnumbered short positions by 28,749 contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the Washington-based commission said in its Commitments of Traders report.
3) Net-long positions fell by 16,267 contracts, or 36 percent, from a week earlier.
