Brussels, 11/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - The decision taken on Sunday in Vienna by the ministers of OPEC countries to increase oil production by 800,000 barrels per day, was considered by the European Commission as "a step in the right direction", said President Romano Prodi and Commissioner Pedro Solbes, the same day in Versailles. The Commission is pleased to note this decision and confirms its willingness to take part in direct dialogue with oil producing countries, added Mr Prodi. It now remains to be seen what concrete impact the measure decided in Vienna on barrel prices will have.
In Brussels, the spokesman reaffirmed that the Commission will pursue and accelerate its work on the medium and long term aspects, that is: - ensuring better competition between oil sector operators within the Union; - diversifying supply sources; - developing alternative sources; - and reducing the EU's energy dependency on outside sources. The major lines of the Commission's strategy in these different areas were set forth in the document drawn up by Vice-President Loyola de Palacio, and reproduced last week in No2205 of our series EUROPE/Documents. By the end of the year the Commission will approve a Green Paper giving details of the various elements of its strategy. Ms Loyola de Palacio, moreover, gave up her plan to go to Saint Petersburg in Russia (where she would have attended the opening of a Europe congress on transport, in order to continue closely following developments in the oil crisis.
In Vienna, the decision by OPEC countries had been announced by Qatar's Minister for Oil, Abdula ben Hamal Al-Attiya, after the informal meeting with his counterparts of the eleven OPEC countries. The increase decided corresponds to a rise in production of around 3%, to 26.2 million barrels daily. Saudi Minister for Oil Ali al-Nouaïmi did not rule out the fact that other increases in production could be decided later, if the barrel price does not fall to below $28. He explained that, if prices remain above $28 for 20 days, the increased production mechanism could be triggered at any moment. According to some indications from oil circles, Saudi Arabia already exceeded its normal production quota during the days preceding the OPEC decision.
On Monday morning, the daily price of oil per barrel had already fallen slightly in Asia (first market open due to the time difference).
Furthermore, regarding the "taxation" aspect of the petrol problem, the Commission's spokesman's service stressed the unanimity of the Fifteen in rejecting any reduction in taxes, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair declared that the tax regime would never be modified under pressure from a blockade of refineries and oil depots.