	opec wants dlr oil price oapec official opec believes world oil prices should be set around a fixed average price of dlrs a barrel oapec assistant general secretary abdelaziz al wattari said today in a speech to a european community ec oapec opec seminar in luxembourg released here al wattari said opec believes the world energy trade should be kept without restrictions and should be built around a fixed average price of dlrs but he warned that defense of the dlr a barrel level had caused hardship for opec countries who had been forced to curtail production and he warned that such cutbacks by opec states could not be sustained in some cases for opec to stabilize the world oil price at what is now considered the optimal level of dlrs a barrel its member countries have had to undergo severe hardship in curtailing production al wattari said such cutbacks cannot in certain cases be sustained al wattari said as well as financial and marketing pressures some states depended on associated gas output for domestic use and oil cutbacks had left insufficient gas supplies he added al wattari noted that total opec output was below the organization s agreed ceiling for all member countries in february although this had meant sacrifices the effect of these sacrifices meant that market stability though restored to a good level was still under pressure al wattari said a lasting stability in the world market requires a wider scope of international cooperation he added he said some non opec oil producing countries had shown a political willingness after to cooperate with opec but although cutbacks announced by these states were politically significant and welcomed by opec they were insufficient in terms of volume he added the overall majority of non opec producers have not responded sufficiently to opec s calls for supply regulation he said al wattari said an dlr a barrel price was optimal as it allowed investment in the oil industry outside opec to continue while not generating excessive cash flow for otherwise unviable high cost areas outside opec such a price would no longer encourage protectionist measures he added fadhil al chalabi opec deputy secretary general also addressing the seminar added that discipline was still needed to prevent violent fluctuations in the oil market cooperation between arab states and europe was advantageous for both sides al chalabi said adding he hoped cooperation would ultimately lead to full fledged euro arab dialogue reuter 
