Oil stability seen as talks goal
KUWAIT (Reuters) -- The oil ministers of key OPEC members Saudi Arabia and Venezuela will meet their non-OPEC Mexican counterpart soon for talks aimed at stabilizing oil markets, Kuwait's state news agency KUNA reported Sunday.
The meeting will take place "within the context of consultations between oil producers inside and outside of OPEC to safeguard the global market stability," said KUNA, quoting an official source in Vienna at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
It was not immediately clear where the meeting would take place, but the source said it will be held after the three-day Muslim Eid el-Fitr festival, expected to start Tuesday.
Asked what OPEC was likely to decide at its next scheduled meeting in Vienna on Dec. 4, the source said: "Current visibility is still not clear and we cannot speculate about the path which the organization will follow ... pertaining to production quotas."
The source said the tripartite meeting between the Saudis, Venezuelans and Mexicans was originally planned to be held about a month ago, and has nothing to do with developments in the Middle East, including recent terror attacks in Turkey and Iraq.
Still, it's natural for the three oil ministers to discuss "the impact of these events on oil prices as well as (discussing) supply and demand and preparations for the upcoming OPEC meetings in Vienna," the source added.
Mexico's Energy minister Felipe Calderon is due in Caracas around Nov. 25 to discuss output policy of non-OPEC producers.
OPEC powers Saudi Arabia and Venezuela last met nonaligned Mexico before the cartel's June OPEC meeting to discuss a strategy for countering a rising tide of Iraqi exports which might batter prices.
The alliance between Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Venezuela dates back to the drastic output curbs of 1998-1999 that have since pushed prices above $25 a barrel for benchmark Brent.
The OPEC source said that any decision taken by the OPEC oil ministers will depend on the developments in crude oil supply and demand and on the level of the global stocks.
Commenting on oil prices, KUNA quoted the OPEC source as saying that the price of the OPEC crude basket had gone down a little but it was still relatively high above the $28 per barrel top of the cartel's preferred $22 -$28 price band.
OPEC rules stipulate that it may consider raising production if the price of oil continues above $28 per barrel for 20 consective working days. OPEC has slashed its total output as of the start of November by 900,000 barrels per day to 24.5 million bpd to boost prices.
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