OPEC PRESIDENT SAYS OIL MARKET BEING MANIPULATED
OPEC president Rilwanu Lukman accused
"oil market manipulators" of drawing down their own stocks and
spreading rumours to give the impression OPEC was breaking its
15.8 mln barrels per day output ceiling, set last December.
    Lukman told reporters the aim was to pull prices below the
18 dlrs per barrel reference level set by OPEC.
    "People are playing a waiting game to test the will of OPEC
by drawing down more on their stock than normal, and this is
having the effect of giving an apparent excess supply on the
market which we know is not real," Lukman said.
    Lukman, Nigeria's oil minister, said that despite probable
"minor deviations" by one or two member countries, "basically OPEC
is producing around what it said it would produce."
    After OPEC's price and production accord last December, the
market firmed steadily but spot prices fell in the last week to
around 16 dlrs. Industry reports estimated the organization was
producing up to one mln bpd above its ceiling during February.
    But Lukman was confident OPEC would maintain its
discipline, in view of past experience. "We have the experience
of what happened in 1986 behind us, when violations of
agreements led to the collapse of the market," he said.
    Lukman was in Kingston as a guest of the state-owned
Petroleum Corp of Jamaica.
 REUTER
