
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 27, 1990                   TAG: 9007270135
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: GENEVA                                LENGTH: Short

OPEC RAISES OIL PRICES, WARNS OVER-PRODUCERS

OPEC oil ministers said Thursday they had agreed to raise the cartel's price for crude oil, and OPEC's president criticized members who have driven down the price by exceeding their production quotas.

The comments were apparently directed in part at Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, who are blamed for keeping oil prices low by cheating on their quotas.

A belligerent dispute between Kuwait and Iraq over the issue appeared to have been defused as the ministers of the 13-nation group began their regular mid-year conference.

Iraqi oil minister Issam Abdul Raheem al-Chalabi sat next to his Kuwaiti counterpart, Rashid Saleem al-Ameeri, at the conference table. The two chatted and laughed before the start of the meeting.

A ministerial source said formal agreement was near on raising OPEC's target price several dollars a barrel and setting a new production ceiling of 22.5 million barrels a day for the entire cartel. This would be an increase over the current ceiling of 22.09 million, but far short of the 23.5 million barrels that experts say the cartel has actually been producing.

The new benchmark price is expected to be $21 to $22 per barrel, the source said. Iraq had hoped for $25 a barrel.

by CNB