LOC16:58
13:58 GMT
KUWAIT, March 17 (KUNA) -- The recent earthquake that jolted Japan will
have no repercussive bearing on Kuwait's oil-exporting capacity, as Kuwait has
other nation-customers for its energy products, besides Japan, Kuwait's Oil
Minister told KUNA on Thursday as he attended the official opening of a new
nature reserve south of Kuwait City.
Any lag in Japan's purchasing of Kuwaiti oil will be amply compensated from
Kuwait's list of eager customers, said Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah, who
also doubles as Minister of Information.
Underlining the equation that more demand does not necessarily require
spikes in production, he revealed that Kuwait has an overproduction capacity
of about one million barrels of oil a day. Having said that, he affirmed that
Kuwait abides by its prescribed quota as set by OPEC.
Addressing the recent earthquake and tsunami's impact on the oil market and
oil prices in particular, he indicated the erratic nature of the market, whose
double poles of demand and supply do not always reflect market conditions
accurately.
He decried the notion that a lot of the gyrations in the price of oil are
spurred by speculators in the market, whose perennial objective is to keep
prices up.
Moreover it has become commonplace that any significant political event of
international enormity could induce unprecedented spikes in prices.
Turning to the upcoming OPEC meeting in June and whether or not decisive
action will be taken regarding the price of oil, Sheikh Ahmad noted such a
meeting might not be in the cards and that any decision on that would have to
wait for now. (end)
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