Oil producers may cut production, Libya warns

June 21 – Some oil-producing countries may defy the west by cutting production, Libya warned today, ahead of an emergency meeting of oil producers and consumers in Saudi Arabia.

Shorki Ghanem, the chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corporation, told Reuters in advance of the meeting in Jeddah: “Some countries may think of increasing production, but some countries may even think of cutting production.”

A move to cut production would fly in the face of appeals by Gordon Brown, George Bush and other western leaders. They have been pressing Opec, the oil cartel, to raise production in an effort to bring down record oil prices.

No Opec members have publicly mooted a cartel-wide production cut, with oil passing through the $135 a barrel mark, although some countries trimmed output during this year’s second quarter, when demand from refineries is at its lowest.

Guardian