Passage Four
In spite of Iraq’s decision to stop oil deliveries, the 11-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will not increase production to make up the shortfall, ministers decided Tuesday in Vienna.
The 11 oil ministers decided to meet again on July 3 to discuss the Iraq temporary stop. The organization’s president, Charkid Khelil of Algeria, said after the meeting that stocks were high and prices were stable, so quota (配额) increases were not necessary.
The E.U. Commission has expressed concern about Iraq’s output stop. A speaker said OPEC had to take all possible measures to keep or lower the oil price.
Saudi Arabia’s Minister Ali-Nuaimi had earlier said there would not be any shortfall of oil in the market. The organization had already taken steps to fill the gap, he said. OPEC Secretary General Ali Rodriguez added that the period of the Iraq stop to export was not known, so other exporters were not going to lift quotas yet. If the market was destabilized (不稳定), a suitable response would be made.
Iraq on Monday stopped shipments of crude oil to protest against the U.N. Security Council’s decision to extend the oil-for-food programme by only a month, instead of the normal six-month renewal (延期).
Just before the Vienna meeting, oil prices had gone up, with a barrel of OPEC crude oil selling for 27.05 dollars last Friday. North sea oil was at 29.26 dollars Monday evening.
OPEC wanted the oil price to stay within a margin of 22 to 28 dollars and achieved that with cuts in January and March that reduced 2.5 million barrels per day off quotas.
“The organization” in Paragraph 2 refers to ____.
A. OPEC B. the E.U. C. APEC D. WTO正确答案A
