KUWAIT SAYS NO PLANS FOR EMERGENCY OPEC TALKS
  Kuwait"s Oil Minister, in remarks
  published today, said there were no plans for an emergency OPEC
  meeting to review oil policies after recent weakness in world
  oil prices.
      Sheikh Ali al-Khalifa al-Sabah was quoted by the local
  daily al-Qabas as saying: "None of the OPEC members has asked
  for such a meeting."
      He denied Kuwait was pumping above its quota of 948,000
  barrels of crude daily (bpd) set under self-imposed production
  limits of the 13-nation organisation.
      Traders and analysts in international oil markets estimate
  OPEC is producing up to one mln bpd above a ceiling of 15.8 mln
  bpd agreed in Geneva last December.
      They named Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, along with
  the much smaller producer Ecuador, among those producing above
  quota. Kuwait, they said, was pumping 1.2 mln bpd.
      "This rumour is baseless. It is based on reports which said
  Kuwait has the ability to exceed its share. They suppose that
  because Kuwait has the ability, it will do so," the minister
  said.
      Sheikh Ali has said before that Kuwait had the ability to
  produce up to 4.0 mln bpd.
      "If we can sell more than our quota at official prices,
  while some countries are suffering difficulties marketing their
  share, it means we in Kuwait are unusually clever," he said.
      He was referring apparently to the Gulf state of qatar,
  which industry sources said was selling less than 180,000 bpd
  of its 285,000 bpd quota, because buyers were resisting
  official prices restored by OPEC last month pegged to a marker
  of 18 dlrs per barrel.
      Prices in New York last week dropped to their lowest levels
  this year and almost three dollars below a three-month high of
  19 dollars a barrel.
      Sheikh Ali also delivered "a challenge to any international
  oil company that declared Kuwait sold below official prices."
      Because it was charging its official price, of 16.67 dlrs a
  barrel, it had lost custom, he said but did not elaborate.
      However, Kuwait had guaranteed markets for its oil because
  of its local and international refining facilities and its own
  distribution network abroad, he added.
      He reaffirmed that the planned meeting March 7 of OPEC"s
  differentials committee has been postponed until the start of
  April at the request of certain of the body"s members.
      Ecuador"s deputy energy minister Fernando Santos Alvite said
  last Wednesday his debt-burdened country wanted OPEC to assign
  a lower official price for its crude, and was to seek this at
  talks this month of opec"s pricing committee.
      Referring to pressure by oil companies on OPEC members, in
  apparent reference to difficulties faced by Qatar, he said: "We
  expected such pressure. It will continue through March and
  April." But he expected the situation would later improve.