Posted on: Tuesday, May 18, 2004
OPEC output talk seen as 'irrelevant'
By Bruce Stanley
Associated Press
|
| An official at Saudi oil company Aramco watches work at a rig near Howta, Saudi Arabia. Crude oil prices surged close to $42 a barrel yesterday.
Associated Press |
| Hawai'i prices continue to hit records
The average price for regular gasoline hit record highs on O'ahu and Maui over the weekend, pushing the average statewide to a high of $2.253 a gallon. That average, which is based on Friday's prices, was up 3 cents from Thursday, according to AAA travel club. In Honolulu, the average rose 1.9 cents to $2.158 a gallon, and in Wailuku, the average rose 4 cents to $2.489 a gallon. In Hilo, the average for regular was $2.284 a gallon, which was just 1.5 cents below a high set on July 3, 2001. |
Separately, the Energy Department said the average U.S. retail price of a gallon of gasoline passed $2 for the first time.
Analysts argued that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries must do more — by adding real barrels to world supplies — if it expects to curb the relentless rise in crude prices.
A senior OPEC delegate, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the group was so worried about overheated prices that it might consider making a larger increase in its target than Saudi Arabia initially suggested last week.
OPEC, which supplies one-third of the world's oil, plans emergency talks this weekend in Amsterdam to discuss a possible target increase of 1.5 million barrels.
Because OPEC already exceeds its current target by more than this amount, analysts say such a move would only legitimize some of OPEC's overproduction and do nothing to trim prices.
"It's not that it won't be enough. It's irrelevant," said Leo Drollas, chief economist of the Center for Global Energy Studies in London.
Futures contracts of U.S. light crude for June delivery reached $41.85 a barrel in New York, before retreating to $41.55, up 17 cents from Friday's close. It was a new record close on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In London, July contracts of North Sea Brent reached $38.50 a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange, but were up just 4 cents by evening at $37.90.
June gasoline futures also reached a new high yesterday in Nymex trading, closing 0.69 cent higher at $1.417 per gallon.
In its weekly report of retail gasoline prices, issued yesterday, the Energy Department said Americans paid an average price of $2.017 per gallon, up 7.6 cents from the previous week. That was the first time the national average topped $2, the agency said.
