Nov. 24, 2000, 9:01PM

Kuwait official sees no return to $20 oil Reuters News Service

KUWAIT -- Kuwait Oil Minister Sheikh Saud Nasser al-Sabah said on Friday OPEC would not allow oil prices to slip again to 1998 levels, adding that world prices dropping to even $22 a barrel was an unrealistic dream.

"Anyone who believes that we will return to the low price in the $20s or $22 a barrel, I think, is dreaming. It is not realistic," the minister said in a live two-hour debate on Kuwait state television.

"We will not allow in any form or shape world oil markets to collapse again like in 1998" when prices fell below $10 a barrel. "It was a disaster," added the minister, who is often seen as a price hawk.

Brent crude oil for January closed in London at $33.12 on Friday, compared with $33.52 a barrel on Thursday. The New York market for futures contracts was closed for the holiday.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.hts/business/755616

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), November 25, 2000