BAGHDAD, Nov 7, (RTRS): Iraq has lowered the official selling price of Basra light crude to US buyers for November by $1.45 to $4.95 below the WTI benchmark, the State Oil Marketing Organisation said on Saturday. The November price for Basra light crude for Asian buyers was flat to the average of Oman/Dubai quotes, up 20 cents from a discount of $0.20 a barrel in October. Prices to European buyers were flat. Below are the discounts, or premiums, for Iraqi crude per barrel against benchmark grades given in brackets.

Basra Light Crude Nov OctUS buyers (vs benchmark
2-month WTI) -$4.95 -$3.50
European buyers (vs North
Sea spot BFOE) -$0.80 -$0.80
Asian buyers (vs Oman/Dubai
average) $0.00 -$0.20
Kirkuk Heavy Crude 
US buyers (vs first-month
WTI) -$3.00 -$1.60
European buyers (vs BFOE) -$0.45 -$0.45

United Arab Emirates Oil Minister Mohammed al-Hamli said on Saturday raising oil production was not currently on the agenda for Opec. “Right now increasing production is not on the agenda,” Hamli told reporters in Dubai. Opec meets on Dec 22 in Angola to decide on production policy. Both Venezuela and Iran have said the producer group did not need to increase output then. Opec has kept official output targets unchanged at meetings this year. The minister of the world’s third-largest oil exporter also said the market was oversupplied as inventories were high. “If you look at inventory it’s very high in terms of crude and refined products, so the market is oversupplied,” Hamli said.

The minister said the world economy was not yet “out of the woods”, but added oil prices at around $80 a barrel signalled a recovery. “There are certainly signs of a recovery which is reflected in the (oil) prices,” he said.
US crude fell $2.19 to $77.43 a barrel on Friday while London Brent crude was down $2.12 to $75.87 a barrel. Overall, Hamli said, he was happy with compliance levels, adding the UAE was fully compliant. Producer group Opec last year agreed to a series of output reductions aimed at raising oil prices, which dropped from a record near $150 a barrel in July 2008 to below $33 a barrel in December as the recession battered fuel demand. Opec has agreed to cut supply by 4.2 million bpd since September 2008 due to falling demand and prices.