Oil Market Likely to Remain Stable, Subroto Says

Indonesian Energy minister Subroto said he was very confident of continued stability in the oil market because of the determination of Opec members to maintain a price of 18 dlrs a barrel.

“We are very confident that things will continue this way. The short-term outlook is favourable because of the resolution of Opec to stick to the 18 dlr price,” he said at a signing ceremony for a new Indonesian production sharing agreement.

He said Opec output continued to remain slightly under its agreed ceiling of 15.8 mln barrels, and he expected prices to firm slightly in the third quarter of the year.

He said at Opec’s next meeting in Vienna in June, members will face the choice of either maintaining present volume and seeing prices rise a bit, or raising the production ceiling so that members could produce more in the third and fourth quarters of 1987.

He gave no figures for how much he thought volume could be raised without undermining the 18 dlr target, or any indication of which option he preferred.