OPEC Leaders Convene to Display Solidarity

Five OPEC leaders gathered here Friday for talks that analysts said would test the cartel’s resolve to combat a global oil price slump.

Prices on world markets slipped slightly in quiet trading. Brent blend crude from the North Sea traded in London for May delivery at $15.60 a barrel, down 10 cents from Thursday’s close.

At the New York Mercantile Exchange, May contracts for West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark U.S. crude, stood at $16.88 a barrel, down 18 cents.

Indonesia’s oil minister said on his arrival that the meeting, set to start today, was unlikely to produce any changes in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ current oil policy.

“I don’t think we’ll decide anything that will change the past decision of OPEC,” the minister, Ginandjar Kartasasmita, told reporters as he prepared for his first OPEC session since taking over his country’s top oil post in March.

In the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh, the official Saudi press agency quoted King Fahd as calling on OPEC to display greater solidarity. It said he accused some unidentified cartel members of cheating on OPEC rules by offering price discounts.

Last December, OPEC agreed to retain existing oil production quotas for the individual member countries in hope of holding prices at $18 a barrel. A barrel is the equivalent of 42 gallons.

Since then, however, open-market prices for OPEC oil have slipped to levels between $15 and $18 a barrel, despite stronger-than-usual efforts by the key producers to abide by their production quotas.

Paul McDonald, a London-based oil consultant, said OPEC oil production in March probably was not much above its official ceiling for 12 members of 15.06 million barrels a day.

Iraq, the 13th member, is not included in the December agreement and is believed to be pumping about 2.5 million barrels daily.

Thus total OPEC output is thought to be about 17.6 million barrels daily.

“It beats me what they can do” now to drive prices back up to $18 a barrel, McDonald said in a telephone interview.

The five OPEC ministers, representing Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Venezuela, Algeria and Indonesia, are expected to assess oil market conditions and recommend action for the next full meeting of the cartel, which is set for June 8 here.