Middle East Economic Survey

VOL. XLVII

No 37

13-September-2004

OPEC

OPEC Has Limited Room For Maneuver As Production Moves Close To Capacity

With OPEC production now very close to sustainable capacity, ministers are faced with a limited set of options when they meet for their regular biannual ministerial meeting on 15 September in Vienna. A cut in production quotas can be easily ruled out with WTI crude still above $40/B. Moreover, any sustained decline in prices would likely first be tackled by a...