Nervous wait for heating oil customers as Opec meets

9 September 2008

Heating oil customers could be set for future price rises, as oil producing cartel Opec prepares for today's meeting in Vienna.

Iranian and Libyan officials have called for the group to cut supply in order to combat falling prices, although analysts are divided over whether this will come.

Chairman of Libya's National Oil Corp Shokri Ghanem remarked: "There is a lot of oil in the market, much more than demand."

But although this view was echoed by Iranian oil minister Gholam Hossein Nozari, others in the cartel have said there is no need to reduce production.

Representatives from both Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have made their position known, stating that there is no need to cut supply, despite the close to 30 per cent drop in oil prices since July.

Heating oil customers saw some relief last week as the cost of a barrel of crude oil reached its lowest point in five months, although fears that Hurricane Ike would strike the Gulf of Mexico saw prices rise over the weekend.

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