Saudis Ask OPEC to Meet on Gulf Oil Supply Crisis

Saudi Oil Minister Hisham Nazer said Thursday that he wants an immediate meeting of OPEC to deal with the loss of crude supplies caused by Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The agency said he also denied reports that Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, was cutting the amount of oil promised to customers in long-term deals.

“Saudi Arabia, together with other members in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, has requested an immediate meeting of the group’s states to take a unified decision to treat the current conditions in the petroleum market,” the Saudi agency SPA, received in Cyprus, quoted Nazer as saying.

Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez said in Caracas Tuesday that he and Saudi King Fahd, whose nations are key members of the 13-nation cartel, had agreed on the need to hold an OPEC meeting as soon as possible.

But Nigeria, which opposes an emergency meeting or early production increase, said most OPEC members take the same view. Those against an early OPEC meeting want the West to draw on its oil inventories, at eight-year highs, to offset shortages.

The cartel’s mediator, Ginandjar Kartasasmita, Indonesia’s oil minister, suggested that OPEC wait until the end of August before deciding anything.

Perez said the meeting would discuss how to boost output to fill a gap in supplies resulting from the loss of more than 4 million barrels of oil a day since Aug. 2, when Iraq invaded Kuwait. United Nations sanctions to punish Baghdad for the invasion have halted Iraqi oil exports.

Crude prices have soared about 30% since the crisis to reach their highest levels since late 1985.

In heavy New York trading Thursday, West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, rose 74 cents to $27.20 a barrel.

Oil traders said Wednesday that Saudi Arabia, while reluctant to raise output alone, was cutting deliveries to Japanese, European and U.S. clients so that it could supply the Kuwaiti Petroleum Corp., which has lost its supply of crude for refining and retail operations since the invasion.