Photo: Shukri Ghanem


Speaking to news agencies on Sunday, Libya’s Chairman of National Oil Corporation (NOC), Dr. Shukri Ghanem, said all OPEC members should respect their quotas as the oil market was oversupplied.

He told AFP "Anyone that is overdoing their quota should respect it."
He added: "The market is more than oversupplied it seems."

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meets on Tuesday where its 13 members are expected to agree to reduce output to help support sliding crude prices, which have fallen because of weakening global economic growth.

The reduction is expected by analysts to take the form of a clampdown on over-production -- production above OPEC quota levels -- which would take oil off the market without being an official policy change.
"We want to be sure of demand and supply. We want to be sure to keep the market balanced. We don't want to see a glut," said Ghanem as quoted by Dow Jones Newswires.

OPEC members together produced 32.569 million barrels a day on average in August, compared to 32.309 million in June, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey.

OPEC has an official output target of 27.25 million bpd, with each country assigned a quota.

The sudden drop to close to $100 a barrel from a peak of $147 a barrel in July has rekindled worries for producers that the price could be headed for a crash as it did in the late 1990s, when it dropped to around $10 a barrel, leading countries like Iran and Venezuela to ponder a cut.

Saudi Arabia is the main quota-buster at the moment, with analysts estimating the oil powerhouse is producing more than 500,000 barrels per day above its target.