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| <title>28th Meeting Of The Ministerial Monitoring Sub-Committee</title> | |
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| <p align="center"><img src="../../PressReleaselogo.gif" width="499" height="154" name="Image1"> <img src="../../Anniversary_Logogif.gif" width="136" height="138"></p> | |
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| <p align="right"><font face="Arial">No. 2/2000	For immediate release</font></p> | |
| <p align="right"><font face="Arial">Vienna, Austria	 27 March 2000</font></p> | |
| <p> </p> | |
| <p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial"><b>Opening address<br> | |
| </b></font><i><font face="Arial" size="3">to the<br> | |
| </font></i><b><font face="Arial">109th Ordinary Meeting of the OPEC | |
| Conference<br> | |
| </font></b><i><font face="Arial" size="3">by<br> | |
| </font></i><b><font face="Arial">His Excellency Abdullah bin Hamad | |
| Al Attiyah</font></b></p> | |
| <p align="CENTER"><b><font face="Arial">President of the OPEC Conference<br> | |
| </font></b><i><font face="Arial" size="3">and<br> | |
| </font></i><b><font face="Arial">Minister of Energy and Industry | |
| of Qatar</font></b></p> | |
| <p align="CENTER"> </p> | |
| <p align="JUSTIFY"><font face="Arial" size="3">Excellencies, Ladies | |
| and Gentlemen,</font></p> | |
| <p align="JUSTIFY"><font face="Arial" size="3">	Welcome to the | |
| 109th Meeting of the OPEC Conference, held at the OPEC Headquarters | |
| in Vienna.</font></p> | |
| <p align="JUSTIFY"><font face="Arial" size="3">	Among the distinguished | |
| participants are two Ministers attending the OPEC Conference for | |
| the first time as Heads of Delegation: His Excellency Chakib Khelil, | |
| Minister of Energy and Mines of Algeria; and His Excellency Lieutenant-General | |
| Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Minister of Mines and Energy of Indonesia. | |
| We look forward to their contributions to our discussions. Let us | |
| also remember, with gratitude, their predecessors and wish them | |
| well for the future: Their Excellencies Dr Youcef Yousfi of Algeria | |
| and Dr Kuntoro Mangkusubroto of Indonesia.</font></p> | |
| <p align="JUSTIFY"></p> | |
| <p align="JUSTIFY"><font face="Arial" size="3">Excellencies, Ladies | |
| and Gentlemen,</font></p> | |
| <p align="JUSTIFY"><font face="Arial" size="3">	Let us also welcome | |
| our distinguished guests from the non-OPEC oil-producing countries. | |
| They are: His Excellency Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos, Minister | |
| of Petroleum of Angola, and his Delegation; His Excellency Dr Jorge | |
| Chavez Presa, Deputy Minister of Energy Policy and Development of | |
| Mexico, and his Delegation; His Excellency Dr Mohammed bin Hamad | |
| Al Rumhy, Minister of Oil and Gas of the Sultanate of Oman, and | |
| his Delegation; and His Excellency Viktor Kalyuzhny, Minister of | |
| Fuel and Energy of the Russian Federation, and his Delegation. Their | |
| presence here is a true consolidation of co-operation that was a | |
| welcome feature of the oil industry at the end of the 20th century | |
| which has done so much to stabilize the market over the past year.</font></p> | |
| <p align="JUSTIFY"><font face="Arial" size="3">	The year 2000 is | |
| special for OPEC. It marks the 40th Anniversary of the establishment | |
| of our Organization, in Baghdad, Iraq, in September 1960. From humble | |
| beginnings, as a group of five oil-producing developing countries, | |
| our Organization today has progressed to become recognized --- and | |
| respected --- as a major player in the world oil industry and market, | |
| controlling more than three-quarters of the world’s proven | |
| recoverable crude oil reserves and more than half of world oil exports. | |
| OPEC’s contributions and role will continue to grow in the | |
| decades to come.</font></p> | |
| <p align="JUSTIFY"></p> | |
| <p align="JUSTIFY"><font face="Arial" size="3">	OPEC is fully aware | |
| of the need to keep up with a changing world. The Summit of OPEC | |
| Heads of State, which is due to take place, God willing, in Member | |
| Country Venezuela in September 2000, will provide an opportunity | |
| to review, among other subjects, the objectives of our Organization | |
| and its role in the oil industry during the 21st century. Undoubtedly, | |
| recent oil market developments make the stability of the international | |
| oil market an issue deserving special attention.</font></p> | |
| <p align="JUSTIFY"><font face="Arial" size="3">	It will be useful | |
| to remember that the annual average price of OPEC’s spot Reference | |
| Basket fell from US$20.3 per barrel in 1996 and $18.7/b in 1997 | |
| to only $12.3/b in 1998.</font></p> | |
| <p align="JUSTIFY"><font face="Arial" size="3">	Output cuts undertaken | |
| jointly by OPEC and some leading non-OPEC producers, and formalized | |
| by the OPEC agreement of March 1999, quickly restored the price | |
| to reasonable levels. Moreover, a continued firming of the market | |
| until the end of the year resulted in an annual average for 1999 | |
| of $17.5/b.</font></p> | |
| <p align="JUSTIFY"><font face="Arial" size="3">	The price continued | |
| to rise this year due to different factors, some are fundamentals | |
| and others are of local and speculative nature. Clearly, the price | |
| extremes we witnessed in both ends in 1998 and the first few months | |
| of this year are detrimental to the international oil market and | |
| the world economy. In the final analysis, there are no winners from | |
| this instability.</font></p> | |
| <p align="JUSTIFY"><font face="Arial" size="3">	OPEC, as the leading | |
| oil producers’ organization, has always been the stabilizing | |
| force in world oil market. It has demonstrated its resolve to balance | |
| the market at times of unwarranted surpluses or shortages. This | |
| is in line with the very objectives of our Organization to bring | |
| market stability and provide the world with adequate and timely | |
| oil supplies.</font></p> | |
| <p align="JUSTIFY"><font face="Arial" size="3">	However, OPEC and | |
| the other oil-producing nations are not the only players in the | |
| market. There are the governments of the oil consuming nations who | |
| can also affect the market outcome, especially the prices of products | |
| to the final consumer. Excessive product taxation in the consuming | |
| countries, especially on gasoline, account for about 75 percent | |
| of the final price to the consumer. In this regard, consuming countries | |
| governments are called upon to co-operate with the producers and | |
| lessen their tax burden on the final consumer.</font></p> | |
| <p align="JUSTIFY"><font face="Arial" size="3">	Turning our attention | |
| to the present oil market situation, the Heads of Delegation will, | |
| at this Meeting of the Conference, carefully examine all the relevant | |
| issues, with the objective of harmonizing the interests of producers | |
| and consumers as quickly as possible. This will embody the assurances | |
| of co-operation we have received from leading non-OPEC producers, | |
| some of whom are represented here today.</font></p> | |
| <p align="JUSTIFY"></p> | |
| <p align="JUSTIFY"><font face="Arial" size="3">Excellencies, Ladies | |
| and Gentlemen,</font></p> | |
| <p align="JUSTIFY"><font face="Arial" size="3">	In closing, I wish | |
| to confirm that OPEC’s Member Countries remain totally committed | |
| to the objectives stipulated in the OPEC Statute, namely the achievement | |
| of security of supply, with reasonable prices for consumers and | |
| fair returns for investors. These objectives constitute the foundation | |
| upon which our Organization is built.</font></p> | |
| <p align="JUSTIFY"><font face="Arial" size="3">	I thank you for | |
| your kind attention, and wish you a successful meeting and pleasant | |
| stay in Vienna.</font></p> | |
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| <p align="center"><font size="5" | |
| face="Verdana"> </font><a | |
| href="../../news.htm"><font | |
| face="Verdana">Return to Announcements Page</font></a> </p> | |
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