Crude oil prices hit new high REUTERS LONDON, March 7  Oil prices hit fresh nine-year peaks on Tuesday as the Wests energy watchdog urged producers to open the taps and repair a worsening supply shortage.

THE RISE COINCIDED with a fresh round of oil diplomacy among OPEC producers divided on the timing of any increase in supply and fearful the wrong move could trigger a price collapse. Brent crude rose above $30 for the first time since the 1991 Gulf crisis, hitting a session high of $30.26, more than three times its price during a supply glut in early 1999, before later easing to $30.18 for a 55 cent gain.

The world needs substantial additional supplies from the second quarter of this year, said Robert Priddle, executive director of the International Energy Agency, a body set up in 1974 to protect the interests of oil consuming countries.

He told a conference in the capital of OPEC member United Arab Emirates that without more oil it would be impossible to rebuild 2000 fuel stocks to the low levels of 1999.

Prices have roared higher in the past year thanks to output cuts orchestrated by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers such as Mexico. United Arab Emirates OPEC quota: 2,000,000 barrels/day Reserves: 98.1 billion barrels Minister: Obeid bin Saif Al-Nasiri Quota applies only to Abu Dhabi. Qatar OPEC quota: 593,000 barrels/day Reserves: 3.5 billion barrels Minister: Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiya Kuwait OPEC quota: 1,836,000 barrels/day Reserves: 96.5 billion barrels Minister: Sheikh Saud Naser Al-Sabah Iran OPEC quota: 3,359,000 barrels/day Reserves: 93.7 billion barrels Minister: Bijan Namdar Zaganeh Iraq OPEC quota: 593,000 barrels Reserves: 100 billion barrels Minister: Lt. Gen. Amir Muhammed Rashid Iraqi oil production is constrained by the United Nations' limits on its exports. Saudi Arabia OPEC quota: 7,438,000 barrels/day Reserves: 261.45 billion barrels Minister: Ali bin Ibrahim al-Naimi Indonesia OPEC quota: 1,187,000 barrels/day Reserves: 5.167 billion barrels Minister: Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Nigeria OPEC quota: 1,885,000 barrels/day Reserves: 20.828 billion barrels Minister: Rilwanu Lukman Algeria OPEC quota: 731,000 barrels/day< Reserves: 9.979 billion barrels Minister: Youcef Yousfi Libya OPEC quota: 1,227,000 barrels/day Reserves: 29.5 billion barrels Minister: Abdullah Salim al-Badri Venezuela OPEC quota: 2,720,000 barrels/day Reserves: 66.329 billion barrels Minister: Ali Rodriguez SOURCE: United States Department of Energy

The cuts have severely drained oil inventories and created worries of a gasoline supply shortage in the United States just ahead of the summer driving season. The United States, which uses a fifth of the worlds oil, has repeatedly urged OPEC to raise output substantially when it meets in Vienna on March 27 to set output levels from April 1.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/378842.asp?bt=cnbc&cp1=1#BODY

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), March 07, 2000