Persian Gulf Oil Producers OK Marketing Plan

Oil ministers of Saudi Arabia and its five partners in the Gulf Cooperation Council agreed Sunday to coordinate marketing policy and reaffirmed their commitment to OPEC-decreed production quotas.

At the conclusion of a three-hour meeting, the ministers said any council member that encountered difficulties in marketing its oil would be aided by the organization but did not specify how.

“The six GCC countries have laid down the necessary procedures to pursue implementation of the OPEC accord . . . to find appropriate solutions to any problems that could be faced by one of them in marketing its production quota,” the ministers said in a joint statement distributed by the Qatar News Agency.

Unspecified Violations

Council members are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. All border the Persian Gulf.

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are also members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Oman and Bahrain participated in the Doha meeting in their capacity as GCC members, with a commitment to OPEC production and pricing rules.

In the statement the ministers referred to unspecified violations by unidentified OPEC members of the 13-member cartel’s production and price accord. But they said they were also satisfied that “successful consultations were in progress to restore production to the prescribed levels.”

Last December, OPEC endorsed a Saudi plan to raise prices to $18 a barrel by slashing overall production by 7.25 percent. In the wake of the Dec. 21 agreement reached in Geneva, prices rose from $15-$16 to $17-$18 a barrel, but have lately weakened by about $1.50 a barrel.

The Doha meeting was the second by GCC ministers in less than two weeks.