VIENNA, Oct 16, (KUNA): Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah expressed satisfaction at the OPEC decision to maintain the current crude output ceiling at 24.840 million barrels per day for keeping balance of the market. Sheikh Ahmad, also Minister of Information, said in an interview with KUNA and Kuwait Television that the ministers of oil at the latest OPEC conference affirmed anew necessity that the cartel oil producers adhere to the output quota because a current glut in the market. Shedding further light on this particular topic, the minister put the extent of quota abidance by the OPEC oil producing countries at 54-56 percent, a very low proportion, compared to the cartel aspiration that it should be as high as 75 percent. He added that Kuwait’s abidance stood at this level, approximately.

GCC states that are members in the cartel are on top in terms of adherence to the crude production quota in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Sheikh Ahmad added in the interview with the Kuwaiti news agency and the TV. Delving further into the conference resolutions, he indicated that the conferees agreed that Kuwait would chair the tripartite committee tasked with monitoring the market and the oil prices, effective start of next year. They also agreed on changing dates of the OPEC regular meetings from March and September to June and December. He indicated that this decision was necessary to enable the OPEC ministers to prepare reports of higher accuracy regarding forecast prices and demand.

Asked whether the question of including Iraq in the quota system, the Kuwaiti minister of oil said such a step was premature and that it would be wise to go ahead with it once the Iraqis formed a new government and consolidated security and stability on their country. Iraq, which currently put out 2.5 million barrels of crude a day, had declared intention to join this regime after upping its crude production to four million bpd by 2013. The minister ruled out major changes in the supply and demand factors and predicted that the prices of oil would continue to range between $75 and 80 per barrel. Meanwhile, an Opec official lauded here the cartel’s recent decision to maintain the current oil output ceiling as a “right step”.

Speaking to KUNA, Opec’s research division chief Hasan Qabazard said as per the decision, Opec member states are required to stick to the quota system, given that the international oil market abounds in crude reserves of 200 million barrels. The Opec’s move mainly aimed to strike a balance at the oil market and to put current stocks at reasonable levels, he said. Asked about the current oil prices, he said they are so reasonable that they would spur up economic growth, but would even bear no harm to consumers.
He believed that oil prices are largely affected by economic growth figures, especially the US dollar rate, but have nothing to do with supply and demand policies, considering that future global oil forecasts are the determiner of up-and-down price levels.

The economic movement comes under much pressure owing to the reflections of the global financial crisis on major industrialized countries, the Opec official pointed out. However, he blasted that commitment by Opec member states to 2008 output cuts has dipped to 56 percent from 76 percent in 2009. He expected international demand for oil would drop by 300,000 barrels per day this year, but could rebound by 200,000 bpd next year. At their meeting here on Thursday, Opec oil ministers agreed to commit to the current output quotas; totaling 24.840 million bpd.

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KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) said here Saturday that it managed to stop a minor gas leakage at Al-Ahmadi refinery. KNPC Public Relations and Media Department Direcotr Mohammad Al-Ajmi said in a statement to KUNA that gas leakage took place at 7 aM today, noting that it was a limited one at a gas pipeline at the seventh area of Al-Ahmadi refinery that is run by the company. He made clear that KNPC emergency plans were activated once the leakage happened in what enabled the operations team from closing the source of leakage and totally insulating it. The pipeline is being currently surveyed and investigations are underway for inspecting the causes of leakage and making necessary repairs. However, Al-Ajmi asserted there are no casualties or damage, noting the operational and export processes at the refinery were not affected by this minor accident.

Kuwaiti oil prices stood at $78.40 per barrel on Friday compared to $79.34 in the previous day, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) said on Saturday. The current Kuwaiti oil price is still within the Opec-set target of $70-80/barrel.