	saudi arabia s king fahd wants stable oil prices king fahd said today saudi arabia wants oil price stability and he called on non opec producers to avoid harmful competition with the nation group his plea in an interview with reuters and the television news agency visnews came ahead of a state visit he will make to britain later this month king fahd was asked whether saudi arabia would be prepared to reduce its oil output below its opec quota of mln barrels per day bpd to defend the dlr benchmark price agreed to by opec last december the king replied saudi arabia doesn t decide prices by itself but certainly desires price stability non opec countries must help us in a framework of common interest so that there is no type of competition which could prove harmful to everyone he said asked if he saw the dlr per barrel benchmark as a first step towards higher world oil prices king fahd said it was not for saudi arabia but for all opec countries to determine such issues iran and algeria have already called for a higher benchmark in recent weeks the dlr level has come under pressure due partly to quota violations by some opec members king fahd said saudi arabia the world s largest oil exporter was adhering to decisions made at opec s december conference which set a mln bpd output ceiling for the first half of a major non opec producer britain has so far resisted the group s pleas to curb its north sea oil output the king also urged the world community to help the palestinians return to their homeland and called for a peaceful end to the iran iraq war the year old war could not be resolved on the battlefield he said reuter 
