O.P.E.C. Ministers still split over oil pricing

Press, 8 May 1978, Page 8

O.P.E.C. Ministers still split over oil pricing

NZPA-Reuter Taif, Saudi Arabia Oil Ministers from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries will today resume talks in Vienna on oil-pricing policy, after so far making little progress on resolving their differences.

Five Ministers gave their views on Saturday to the informal meeting, which is not expected to make any big decisions, delegate sources have told NZPAReuter.

Iran and Saudi Arabia argued for continuing the present price freeze, but were opposed by the Ministers from Libya, Iraq, and Kuwait, the sources said.

Iran’s O.P.E.C. delegate, Mr Mohammed Yeganih, said O.P.E.C. should give the United States another chance to reverse the fall in the value of the United States dollar which has eroded oil revenues.

Only if the United States Government failed to do so, should O.P.E.C. consider supplementing the dollar as the pricing unit for oil, he said.

But Iraq’s Mr Tayeh Abdul-Karin argued for an immediate switch from the United Staes dollar to a basket of currencies to protect O.P.E.C. revenues from fluctuations in the dollar’s foreign-exchange value. Delegates said they hoped the session would clear the way for a firm decision on pricing to be taken when the Ministers meet for formal

talks in Geneva on June 17 and 18.

The aim of the special meeting was to allow Ministers to reach a broad consensus for O.P.E.C. strategy without the pressures of a decision-making meeting. The Ministers will discuss today the low level of demand for O.P.E.C. oil, which Saudi Arabia’s Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani argued was a reason for keeping prices unchanged until the end of the year. Some oil exporters suggested that output should be cut to match current demand, opening the way for higher prices. But most Relegates believed O.P.E.C. would accept the continued price freeze sought by Saudi Arabia and Iran, which together control nearly half O.P.E.C.’s production.