VOL. XLIV

No 41

8-October-2001

OPEC

CrudePrices Weakness Tests OPEC Grip On Markets

Crudeprices continued weak but volatile last week and the OPEC basket price remainedbeneath the $22/B lower limit of the organizations price band mechanism. Yet MEESunderstands that there is very little chance of an OPEC production cut at thispoint for a number of reasons: to cut production when the world economy isentering a recession would lead to widespread criticism of OPEC; theorganization feels the impact of...