December 13, 2002	Friday	Shawwal 8, 1423

VIENNA, Dec 12: Faced with the threat of falling prices, the Opec oil cartel agreed on Thursday to cut production even while it raised official quotas to bring them into line with actual output, Opec President Rilwanu Lukman said here.

“First we agreed to cut overproduction. Second we agreed to raise the official ceiling by 1.3 million bpd,” Lukman said at a meeting in Vienna of the 11-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Qatar minister Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah said he was “confident all (Opec) members will comply” with the new norms as the cartel is seeking to restore its credibility due to lack of discipline in the past among member states in respecting production limits.

The oil market is awash with crude, with Opec looking towards the first quarter of next year — a time when traders demand less oil as they are buying supplies for spring and summer in the northern hemisphere, when oil consumption is lower.

The current Opec quota is 21.7 million bpd, with production overshooting the mark by 2.5 to 3.0m bpd as members treat the limits as informal rather than iron-clad barriers.

The new quota on total output will be 23 million bpd as of January 1.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, who had proposed the production cuts linked to quota increases, said he was “cent per cent” confident Opec oil production would fall to the new ceiling.—AFP