VOL. XLIV

No. 13

26-March-2001

CRUDE OIL/LPG PRICES

Compliance The Key Market Concern After OPEC Agrees Production Cuts

OPEC was in a no-win situation as far as the crude market reaction to its 1mn b/d production cutting agreement of 17 March was concerned (see lead story). Ministers knew that if they had cut only 500,000 b/d the markets would say that was too little to support falling crude prices, while at the same time they were aware that if they agreed to cut by 1mn b/d, industrial countries...