OPEC REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO FIXED PRICES, CEILING

  OPEC has reaffirmed its commitment to
  fixed crude oil prices of around 18 dlrs a barrel and an
  overall output ceiling of 15.8 mln barrels per day (bpd) to
  defend prices, its president Rilwanu Lukman said.
      He told a news conference here "After due consultation with
  my colleagues in OPEC, I hereby wish to emphasize that Nigeria
  and all member countries of OPEC remain determined to uphold
  the December agreement by adhering strictly to their various
  quotas and official selling prices."
      Lukman added no extraordinary OPEC conference was planned.
      "We are in a position to re-confirm that, despite misleading
  news in foreign media to the contrary, ... OPEC member
  countries as a whole produced below their agreed quota in the
  month of February," Lukman, who is Nigerian oil minister, said.
      Lukman put the overall OPEC output shortfall in February at
  900,000 bpd and said this was as a result of their firm
  determination to defend official selling prices of 18 dlrs
  agreed upon last December in Geneva.
      The December agreement set an overall output ceiling for
  OPEC of 15.8 mln bpd for first half 1987 and restored fixed
  prices as from February 1 around a reference point of 18 dlrs.
      Oil prices rallied immediately after the Geneva accord but
  fell again last month on reports that OPEC was producing more
  than the agreed level.
      "The idea was to suggest that OPEC's agreement would not
  hold and this caused some customers to hold back purchases of
  OPEC oil and resort to destocking to meet their needs," Lukman
  said.
      He said the 900,000 bpd shortfall last February was based
  on the verified figure for 10 out of OPEC's 13 members, adding
  that Nigeria alone had a shortfall in production of 100,000
  bpd.
      Iraq disassociated itself from the December agreement,
  while the production figures of Ecuador and the United Arab
  Emirates needed to be verified, Lukman said.
      "If that is the price we have to pay to make the agreement
  succeed, we are ready ... OPEC is not changing its price level
  of 18 dlrs," the group's president said.
      He said the OPEC price differentials committee meeting
  formerly postponed to April had been put off indefinitely.
      "Furthermore, no extraordinary meeting of the conference is
  at the moment contemplated since most agreements reached in
  December are being adhered to," he said.
      Asked if the committee did not need to meet soon to narrow
  the gaps in the prices of the various OPEC crudes -- fixed in
  relation to the 18 dlr benchmark -- Lukman replied "We consider
  the defence of our prices much more crucial than differentials."
      Lukman said OPEC was aware that consumers had heavily drawn
  on stocks of both crude oil and refined products to levels well
  below this time last year and soon they would return to the
  market in search of crude.
      "We don't see that there is going to be any difficulty in
  maintaining the 18 dlr price throughout the rest of the year,"
  Lukman said.
      The OPEC president praised non-OPEC oil producers, which he
  said had contributed to the group's efforts to stabilise
  prices, but he criticised Britain for maintaining its long-held
  view not to do anything to help the market.
      "We are quite confident, however, that in the long-term with
  two-thirds of the world's reserves in OPEC hands, the future is
  ours. We will use that advantage responsibly," he said.
      Lukman described the disruption in Ecuador's output
  following an earthquake as tragic, but refused to say if the
  South American country would be allowed a higher output quota
  when it recovered from the disaster.
  

