Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Saudi Arabia's oil minister Ahmed Zaki Yamani (centre), and members of his
delegation, at the opening ceremonies of the 59th OPEC Conference at Kuta
Beach, Indonesia in December 1980.
At this conference, oil ministers from the 13 members of OPEC agreed to permit
crude oil prices to rise to a new high of $41 a barrel. (Yamani is now best known
than the oft-quoted observation he made many years later - that “the stone age
did not end for lack of stone”.)
quotas it sets for its members. OPEC production changes can take up
to three months to take actual effect, because of time-lags involved in
ramping up production or shutting down wells and in shipping oil over-
seas. However, OPEC quota decisions signal to the market what OPEC's
preferred range of prices is, though there is nothing precise about the
outcome. The futures markets will then take a view as to the credibility (or
lack of credibility) of OPEC announcements to cut or increase production
and will therefore mark oil up or down.
