Indonesia expects lower oil price
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Indonesia's oil minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro takes over as OPEC president next month.
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JAKARTA, Indonesia (Reuters) -- Indonesia estimates world oil demand will fall by 2.5 million barrels per day next April, depressing prices, the country's oil minister and incoming OPEC president said Tuesday.
"We estimate oil prices will still be in a strong position in January and February. However, we estimate also world oil demand will fall by 2.5 million (bpd) next April," Purnomo Yusgiantoro said.
He gave no reason for the expected decline, but the International Energy Agency has also forecast demand to fall 2.5 million bpd in the second quarter of 2004 from the first quarter.
"This certainly will depress the oil price. Therefore, Indonesia wants OPEC to maintain its output ceiling in the meeting in December. We will see how things develop after that," said Purnomo, who takes over as OPEC president in January.
Purnomo, who flies to Vienna later Tuesday, said OPEC would maintain its price band target of $22-$28.
Ten members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), excluding Iraq, have a production ceiling of 24.5 million bpd after the group decided in September to chop 900,000 bpd from output levels effective November 1.
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Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
