Middle East Economic Survey

VOL. XLVII

No 42

18-October-2004

OPEC

Fuel Subsidies Put Oil Producing Countries Under Pressure

The rise of international crude oil and petroleum product prices has brought into sharp focus the unsustainable nature of direct state or national oil company subsidies for petroleum products. The rise in underlying international prices has meant that oil producer governments, which import petroleum products, have been forced to raise the actual price subsidy paid to enable...