OPEC SAYS FEBRUARY OUTPUT UNDER CEILING

  OPEC output in February was "well below"
  the 15.8 mln bpd ceiling it set in December and all countries
  are strictly adhering to their quotas, the OPEC news agency
  Opecna quoted an OPEC secretariat official as saying.
      The official was quoted as saying that lower output was the
  result "of member countries' firm determination to defend the
  organisation's official price of 18 dlrs per barrel, and to
  refrain from selling any quantity below that price."
      The unnamed official was further quoted as saying that no
  OPEC meeting was foreseen before the next biannual OPEC session
  planned to start on June 25.
      The official gave no figure for February output. The
  statement said only that "the reduction in total supplies,
  namely actual exports of crude oil and products, plus local
  deliveries in member countries, is even more pronounced as
  those supplies fell very noticeably during that month."
      "No matter what the pressure on member countries by lifters
  to align the official selling price to the ongoing market
  price, member countries are, without exception, strictly
  adhering to the official selling price in spite of the
  financial hardship this may entail," the statement said.
      "The very recent improvement in the price structure is an
  indicator of such determination by the organization to stick to
  the official selling price," the statement said.
      Free spot market prices rose from around 14.50 dlrs a
  barrel in early December last year to near OPEC's official
  levels towards the end of the year, after the OPEC pact.
      There has been oil industry speculation that OPEC might
  have to hold an extraordinrary meeting prior to its scheduled
  June session to discuss reports of overproduction by some
  states and strains on the differential matrix, which prices
  each OPEC crude according to its quality and distance from main
  markets.
      The official said in the statement that no such emergency
  session was scheduled "because of member countries' firm
  determination to defend the price (system)" agreed in December.
      Opec"s differential committee was to have met in Vienna
  starting April 2 but this session has been postponed, with no
  new date set, according to an official of the United Arab
  Emirates, which chairs the seven-state body.
      Other members are Algeria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Libya,
  Nigeria and Qatar.
  

