Cablegate: Opec Emergency Meeting in Cairo

VZCZCXRO3814
RR RUEHDE
DE RUEHEG #2450 3371151
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 021151Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0980
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
INFO RUEHHH/OPEC COLLECTIVE
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC 0436

UNCLAS CAIRO 002450

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ENRG EPET ECON PGOV EG
SUBJECT: OPEC EMERGENCY MEETING IN CAIRO

(U) On Saturday November 29, regional oil ministers gathered in
Cairo for a meeting of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting
States (OAPEC), to discuss recent oil and gas price volatility.
OAPEC ministers agreed to refer EgyptQs proposal to address the
impact of the global financial crisis on the energy and
petrochemical sectors to the Arab League. Egyptian Minister of
Petroleum Sameh Fahmy told the local press that the proposal sought
to ameliorate the negative consequences of the global financial
crisis in the oil, gas and petrochemical sectors. The proposal will
be submitted to the Arab LeagueQs first economic summit in Kuwait in
January 2009. According to the Egyptian press, an emergency session
of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting States (OPEC) was
convened after the OAPEC meeting, at the Iranian representativeQs
request. After the conclusion of the emergency meeting, Saudi oil
minister Ali Al Naimi stated that the session focused on price
developments, not on production levels. He noted that the following
meeting of OPEC, tentatively scheduled for December 17 in Algeria,
would address production cuts. Naimi added OPEC members were
complying by their decision in October to reduce oil production.
Scobey

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