[OPEC ministers, who were meeting through Sunday evening, have yet to reach an agreement. Some ministers suggested there was no need to put extra oil on the market.] The market is well supplied - actually it is in balance, ... After Katrina, everybody offered crude but the refining capacity was not there to cope with it. |
A fair price is what the market can sustain. |
After Wednesday, the perception about safety in the region will change. |
Anything in the high $50's or low $60's isn't a case for cutting output. |
But mainly it's the threatening statements being made against Iran as a result of its nuclear program. |
But there are simply too many geopolitical issues at this very time so we have agreed to roll over (production quotas) and to monitor closely if there are any further developments. |
By a week's time, we can expect a development, and I think that will be positive. |
By June we should be looking at modestly another half a million barrels of capacity a day. |
I don't see any compelling reason for a cut. The market hasn't changed; the price is still $67 a barrel. |
I spoke with the Iranian minister and he assured me that on their own part they have never stated that they were going to shut production. |
I still do believe the market is well supplied, even getting soft. |
I think those opinions are sincerely held, and the good thing about the Bush administration is that it's very outspoken. There is no fudging the issues. |
I'm glad things have come to a crux. |
If we decide that that is the way to go so that we can address our perception of the second quarter, we will take that decision now. |
If we only followed strictly market analysis we should be doing some trimming of volume. |