VOL. XLIV

No 40

1-October-2001

SAUDI ARABIA

Interview With Saudi OilMinister

The following is the textof a MEES interview with Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi conducted by Ian Seymourand Walid Khadduri in Vienna on 28 September

Q: We were wondering if you couldclarify whether the OPEC price-band mechanism is likely to be activated on thedownside in the next couple of weeks and whether it would be more than 500,000b/d?

A: We may activate the mechanism,but we may need to do more than is provided for...