Reuters - Saudis To Cut April Output To Asian Refiners By 10% After 7-8% Cutbacks In March

[hatrack]

It's on page 2 - short snippet in article

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Expectations that OPEC would leave its production quota unchanged during its meeting in Vienna on March 15 were also dragging down prices, said David Moore, an analyst at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. "That's raising some concerns in the market since the market is so finely balanced at the moment," Moore said.

OPEC President Mohammed al-Hamli said on Monday the organization will be "very flexible" when ministers meet, though Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah pointed to no change to existing pledged supply curbs of 1.7 million barrels per day.

"They should do nothing if the price remains as it is," Attiyah told reporters in Dubai on Monday. "The compliance is very good so far."

OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia has notified Asian refiners it will cut April crude supplies by about 10 percent below its term contracts, industry sources told Reuters on Monday, after its March supplies to Asia were 7-8 percent below contracted volumes.

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http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=hotStocksNewsUS&storyID=2007-03-12T100610Z_01_SP286015_RTRUKOC_0_US-MARKETS-OIL.xml&pageNumber=0&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=InvArt-C1-ArticlePage2

[notadmblnd]

1. Must keep the price up there.

it would be a shame for the oil barons to miss out on another record profit year.

[Double T]

2. Sure, let's create an deliberate oil shortage to drive up prices.

Combine that with a deliberate oil refining capacity shortage and the consumer will once again be saddled with $3.00+/gallon gas. Recession ahead.

[phantom power]

3. More cuts. Holy cow.

I will eat my hat if these cuts are voluntary.

[aquart]

4. Is this what the China/Venezuela oil deal was about?

[GliderGuider]

5. Yay, more voluntary cutbacks!

An analyst I trust on The Oil Drum said this morning that Saudi production seems to be declining by 50,000+ bpd each month, and that only new fields (of which there aren't many) can keep their numbers up.

KSA has also issued a warning: A senior Saudi Aramco official warned yesterday that the petroleum industry is facing a tremendous skills shortage which, if goes unchecked will undermine its ability to meet world demands. While that is a fact, it's also the next step in their campaign of misdirection. Anything to mask the fact that their production seems to be in serious trouble.

[phantom power]

6. Heh. lying by telling the truth.

They have a skills shortage because they can't bring all these new fields on fast enough to make up for the collapse of their existing fields.