7 Oil Producers Reported Discussing an OPEC Deal

Seven non-OPEC oil producers have been discussing reducing their oil production by almost half a million barrels a day in exchange for a cut by the 13-nation cartel, a senior Mexican Oil Ministry official said Tuesday.

The Mexican official, part of a delegation on a visit to Oslo, spoke on condition that he not be identified.

He said Mexico and six other countries that are to hold talks with OPEC on April 23 had been discussing various measures to stabilize world oil prices.

Asked if a mutual cut of 5% was being considered, he replied: “That is one option. We are all very concerned.”

The report helped boost oil prices to the highest level in four months in New York, as May spot oil futures jumped briefly to touch $18 a barrel. The contract was up 9 cents to $17.98 in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, closing at $18.09.

Signs of Cooperation

The Mexican official’s comments were the first confirmation from within the non-OPEC group--Egypt, Angola, Mexico, China, Malaysia, Colombia and Oman--that it is talking of concrete measures to cut the world oil glut, which had pushed prices down in recent months.

Five percent of the seven countries’ production would represent about 400,000 barrels a day, while a similar cut from OPEC would represent about 850,000 barrels a day--a total of more than 1.2 million barrels a day.

There have been recent signs that countries outside the cartel might be willing to cooperate with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries on oil production.

Mexico has already trimmed output. Norway, also outside OPEC and Western Europe’s biggest producer after Britain, has made a 7.5% cut in planned production growth.

But the Mexican official said the group that would meet OPEC in Vienna was made up of independent countries and it was far from clear that they would be able or willing to implement a uniform cut.

Asked whether Mexico would cut its oil production, now put at close to 3 million barrels a day, by the International Energy Agency, he said: “We have taken no decision on that yet.”

He said the meeting with OPEC later this month, unprecedented in the scale of discussions between the cartel and other oil producers, would be “a meeting for consultations.”

The Mexican delegation came to Norway at its own request and met Norwegian Oil and Energy Minister Arne Oeien.

The United States and Britain both oppose anything that suggest manipulation of the market, although the Saudi oil minister, Hisham Nazer, is to visit Britain this week and meet Energy Secretary Cecil Parkinson, probably today.

Indonesian Suggests Plan

Oil Minister Ginandjar Kartasasmita of Indonesia on Monday also spoke of possible combined output cuts by OPEC and non-OPEC sellers, but appeared to envision a different formula from that suggested by the Mexican official’s remarks.

The Indonesian minister saw the seven non-OPEC sellers cutting back to early 1987 output levels, which he said would take up to 500,000 barrels daily off the market.

OPEC would simply stop exceeding existing output quotas, which he said would remove 200,000 to 300,000 barrels more.

OPEC has been trying to maintain an oil price of about $18, but an oversupply has weighed on the market recently.