	saudi oil minister sees no need to alter opec pact saudi arabian oil minister hisham nazer said opec s december agreement to stabilise oil prices at dlrs a barrel was being implemented satisfactorily and there was no immediate need to change it nazer in an interview with reuters and the television news agency visnews said saudi arabia was producing around three mln barrels per day bpd of  oil well below its opec quota saudi arabia the world s largest oil exporter will continue to restrain production as long as other opec members adhere to the pact nazer said the nation opec agreed in december to cut its production ceiling by pct to mln bpd and abide by fixed prices averaging dlrs a barrel from february nazer in his first interview since succeeding ahmed zaki yamani last october said i do not foresee any need for new measures before the th of june when our next opec meeting will take place as scheduled nazer said opec was producing below mln bpd and all members were abiding by its agreements we ve heard news every now and then of violations but they were not at all verified he said opec production curbs have boosted world oil prices from a year low of around eight dlrs a barrel last august to near dlrs after announcement of the december pact spot market prices slipped some two dlrs in february but have firmed in the past two weeks to near opec levels as traders gained confidence in opec price and output discipline nazer said saudi arabia would continue to produce below its mln bpd quota if necessary to defend the dlr price as long as all the opec members adhere to the program as devised in december saudi arabia will continue to adhere to the agreement he said current production of three mln bpd includes oil from the neutral zone shared with kuwait but not sales from floating storage nazer said king fahd of saudi arabia in an interview with reuters and visnews on march said the kingdom wanted oil price stability and called on non opec producers to avoid harmful competition with opec saudi arabia doesn t decide prices by itself but certainly desires price stability he said nazer said the output level did not mean the kingdom had returned to a role of swing producer within opec saudi arabia allowed its output to sink as low as two mln bpd in august to compensate for slack demand and over production by some opec states saudi arabia is not playing that role it is being played by opec membership as a whole because the reduction in the mln bpd share of opec in the market is being shared by other members of opec nazer said nazer said opec estimated demand for its oil during third quarter this year would be around mln bpd but he said if circumstances changed i am sure then the opec members will consult with each other and take the necessary measures oil analysts say the opec pact could come under strain when demand for petroleum products generally falls in the northern hemisphere spring and summer nazer said he was satisfied with the extent of cooperation from non opec producers norway egypt and the soviet union agreed to help opec by restraining production or exports after he visited them on opec s behalf earlier this year we did not ask any country to do anything these were programmes they thought were necessary to stabilise market conditions and to help themselves attain better pricing conditions nazer said he said it was up to countries that declined to cooperate such as britain to come up with their own proposals if they saw fit reuter 
