OPEC's top official said Wednesday he wants to mend fences with the
International Energy Agency and avoid a repeat of an oil stockpiles
release that has strained consumer-producer relations.
Abdalla Salem El-Badri, secretary general of the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries, said he hoped to set up a sit-down
meeting with IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka to discuss better
coordination between consumers and producers. "We don't want this to be
repeated," El-Badri said of the IEA's controversial release.
El-Badri said he would tell Tanaka, "Let us not disturb the market."
Still, El-Badri's remarks Wednesday struck a more conciliatory tone than
earlier in the week, when he joined other OPEC figures in sharply
criticizing the IEA move. The IEA Thursday surprised markets by
initiating an emergency release of 60 million barrels, pushing down oil
prices and generating near-universal criticism from OPEC figures.
"Maybe IEA's executive director Nobuo Tanaka] will come here [in Vienna
or] I will go there and try to discuss the aftermath of this decision,"
El-Badri said.
The Paris-based IEA represents the governments of oil-consuming
countries. El-Badri's Vienna office includes a prominent photograph with
Tanaka in which the two men are seen smiling.
El-Badri said he was not trying to stop the planned release. "It's a
decision, it's taken, it's over," he said. But "I hope this will be the
first and the last," he said.
El-Badri said no plans had been finalized to meet Tanaka. But he said
his message would be that consumers and producers should work together
closely in case of sudden disruptions as OPEC members are always ready
to supply market needs.
"We are partners in this business," he said.
"I would like to assure him that we are ready...to supply the market,"
he said.
El-Badri made reference to statements by some OPEC members that signaled
they would boost output to meet increased demand after a June 8 OPEC
meeting disintegrated in disagreement. Despite the outcome of the June 8
meeting, "some of our member countries...are ready to add more oil into
the market," El-Badri said.
"The IEA didn't give time for those countries to fulfill their
commitments," he added.
El-Badri said he did have a conversation with Tanaka in the early days
of the Libyan crisis.
"We had a telephone call during the Libyan crisis at the time" but "both
of us thought that the problem would not last for more than two
months," he said.
Although El-Badri read IEA comments in the press that suggested a
possible release, he said he was not informed by the IEA of the agency's
intent to release some of its stocks ahead of last Thursday's move.
"They didn't tell me they wanted to release this quantity," he said.
El-Badri said he had been planning to meet with Tanaka in recent weeks
on other business, but the two never managed to get together.
"Mr Tanaka [was] supposed to come here. He [wanted] to visit
Vienna...but he was not able to come," he said.
El-Badri said he didn't foresee any emergency OPEC meeting before a
scheduled gathering in December.
"We have a December meeting. There is no emergency meeting in our radar
at this time."