Saudia Arabia, the most powerful member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, has told Angola, its newest entrant, not to assume it will be able to expand production past 2 million barrels a day, The Financial Times reports Wednesday, without citing sources.
This is a blow to the world's biggest oil companies, which have already paid Angola billions of dollars for the right to explore and produce its oil.
Angola joined the oil cartel in January and should reach the 2 million barrel a day threshold at the start of next year. It had a target of producing 2.5 million barrels a day by 2012, a target which has now been thrown into doubt.
(Dow Jones Newswires, 14/03/2007)