OPEC summit will not discuss production levels, al-Badri says

Nov 14, 2007, 9:32 GMT

Riyadh - The Secretary-General of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said on Wednesday production levels would not be discussed at the group's summit scheduled to be held this weekend in Riyadh.

'We do not disagree on the need to discuss production levels but that is not going to happen until December,' Abdullah Salim al-Badri told reporters in Riyadh ahead of the summit.

The next OPEC policy meeting is scheduled for December 5 in Abu Dhabi.

In the Riyadh conference, heads of state will focus on the OPEC members' longer-term strategies, plans to maintain energy supplies and stabilize oil prices as well as environmental protection issues.

Al-Badri was answering questions about a call by US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman on Tuesday for OPEC to increase its crude oil output to meet falling stock levels and spiralling prices.

At a Riyadh press briefing on Tuesday, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al- Naimi had also said OPEC was not planning to discuss production and prices at its upcoming meeting.

'The Riyadh summit will not deal with output and prices. Prices are discussed in normal OPEC meetings,' al-Naimi said.

The comments by al-Badri came as meanwhile OPEC was reporting that prices have fallen sharply. The OPEC Secretariat in Vienna said Wednesday that its oil had dropped by nearly 2 dollars per barrel.