01-12-07 World oil consumption will rise as winter sets in but it is unclear if OPEC needs to raise output to meet the seasonal demand, the oil minister of top world oil exporter Saudi Arabia said. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is under pressure from consumer nations to boost supply to lower prices that hit a record high near $ 100 a barrel.
Asked whether he expected demand to increase during the winter, Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi told: "That is what it normally does, every winter the fourth quarter is always higher than the third quarter."

But Naimi said he did not know if this meant OPEC ministers would agree to raise output when they meet in the United Arab Emirates.
"That we don't know yet, we have to look at the information. Why don't you wait until we meet, examine all the information, all the data we have, then we will decide and we will tell you what we will do on December 5."
The Saudi minister said oil stocks remained ample.
"I think they are in a very comfortable range."

OPEC oil ministers will hold an extraordinary meeting in Abu Dhabi where they will discuss the group's output policy. Oil fell more than $ 2 to below $ 89 a barrel, partly on expectations that OPEC will decide to boost output at its next meeting. Global demand for crude oil is expected to be satisfactory through the first quarter of 2008, Naimi said in the Qatari capital Doha on the sidelines of an Arab oil ministers' meeting.
"The outlook is OK," he said, answering a question about demand in this quarter and next.

In November, the International Energy Agency, adviser to oil consuming countries, sharply reduced its forecast for oil demand growth through the rest of 2007 and into 2008, saying oil's march towards $ 100 was already slowing consumption. Earlier, Qatari oil minister Abdullah al-Attiyah said OPEC should tread softly to avoid flooding the market with oil it cannot absorb while paying heed to concerns about a possible global recession. Naimi and Attiyah said they were concerned about the prospect of recession.
"I think everybody is concerned about recession," Naimi said, in response to a question after his Qatari counterpart said he was "very concerned". "It's everyone's wish to avoid recessions," Naimi said.

The ministers were in Doha for a meeting of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC). OAPEC, unlike the similarly named OPEC, does not set oil production policy for its member countries.
In the largely procedural meeting, the ministers agreed to waive about 70 % of Iraq's debt to OAPEC. The debt was around $ 3 mm, one source who attended the meeting said.