OPEC Ministers Arrive for Talks

Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ahmed Zaki Yamani said Monday that he expects the cartel to move closer this week to an agreement on limiting oil production.

But expectations were not high that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will fully resolve the differences on production that have led to a crippling price slump.

Without explicitly saying so, Yamani implied that he did not foresee a final agreement at this OPEC meeting, which begins Wednesday. Other ministers made similar remarks as they arrived on this resort island.

The cartel is trying for the third time in four months to agree on an overall oil production ceiling and quotas for each member.

Informal Talks

Yamani and most of the 12 other OPEC oil ministers began gathering on this exotic island in the Adriatic to hold private, informal talks in advance of their regular summer conference.

“I expect to have a move; to take another step here” toward agreement on a comprehensive plan designed to push oil prices back up, Yamani said.

The oil minister of the United Arab Emirates, Mana Said Oteiba, told reporters that OPEC had a long way to go before coming to a final agreement on production limits.

“I don’t think you are expecting the ministers to solve all the problems in one meeting,” Oteiba said.

“The important thing is to see that we are put on the right track.”

Oteiba also said OPEC now was producing between 18 million and 19 million barrels of oil daily. That is up from industry estimates of about 17.3 million barrels daily as recently as May.

Sharp divisions remain in OPEC over production. Two members--Iran and Iraq--have been at war since 1980.

Iran’s oil minister, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, was quoted Monday by Iran’s official news agency as saying that he opposed any change in production quotas and favored restoring OPEC’s official prices, which are more than double current prices in the open market.