Libya raises oil price to O.P.E.C. limit

Press, 31 December 1980, Page 6

Libya raises oil price to O.P.E.C. limit

NZPA New York, Libya. Indonesia. and Venezuela will raise their crude-oil prices as much as, SUS 4 a barrel tomorrow, industry sources have. said. . Libya would increase its 1 price SUS 4 a barrel, un to, the new SUSI! ceiling of theOrganisation of Petroleum; Exporting Countries, and in-; donesia would raise its prices about SUS 3 a barrel; to SUS 36, the sources said. , Humberto Calderon Berti.j the Venezuelan Energy Minister, said in Caracas that* his country’s oil prices i would climb as much as! SUS3.SO to about SUS3B a; barrel, depending on the, grade. , The Libyan and Indonesian] increases, announced in tel- 1 ex messages sent to oil com-; panies, were the latest in a round of O.P.E.C, price hikes sparked by Saudi Arabia on December 15. O.P.E.C. decided at a. meeting on December 16 to allow its 13 members to raise prices about 10 per cent to a maximum SUS4I per 42-gallon barrel. y Libva’s move from the former O.P.E.C. ceiling price of SUS 37 a barrel was expected to be followed by Algeria and Nigeria, which now charge SUS 37 and; which usually match the| Libyan price. In Rome, oil buyers reported the new Libyan! prices would be valid until; next June 30. “It isn't certain, but ■ it i would seem that Libya intends to hold prices steady at the SUS4I level until!

after the next akEjC?WTerence "on May 25, one : bus er said. ' , ; Several American source.', however, said the Libyan • notifications they received contained no word of a price J freeze for the first ha« df i the next year. / The increase by Libya > u "somewhat more than we t J anticipated,” and probably * /was triggered by a recent, I .halt in the flow of nearly ) one million barrels a day of | /Iraqi oil to Mediterranean t ! Sea ports, a source said. ’ . | The Iran-Iraq war shut off ? ('nearly four million barrels | /of oil exports a day 1 . about 7 per cent of Western* > oil needs — from the; two j (countries. il Algeria. ’• re-; .inortedly is still demanding a J . SUS3-a-barrel “exploration t fee” on top; of ‘ its official j ; "price. t J Such surcharges are an in- j i creasingly popular " practice | i among O.P.E.C. members. f )! But industry sources said 1 i.lndonesia decided to reduce! ■ its surcharges as it raises? official prices. The sources said Indonesia raised prices. i SUS3.SO and SUS3.BO, to ' * SUS3S and $U536.20 a har- . rel. Its new surcharges wer* - set at 75c to SUS'I.SO a bar-.’ i rel — down from $U52.25 to i SUS4.IO. ; ■; In Bangkok, the Saudi Oil I Minister (Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani) has said Saudi /Arabia, the biggest ; i exporter, intends to hold its » i price at the present level of i iSUS32 a* barrel: O.P.E.C.’s ’ ■ lowest, at least until | io.PE.C.’s next meeting,;, in I I'May.' ' |