Kuwait"s Oil Minister, in remarks 
published today, said there were no plans for an emergency OPEC 
meeting to review oil policies after recent weakness in world 
oil prices. 
    Sheikh Ali al-Khalifa al-Sabah was quoted by the local 
daily al-Qabas as saying: "None of the OPEC members has asked 
for such a meeting." 
    He denied Kuwait was pumping above its quota of 948,000 
barrels of crude daily (bpd) set under self-imposed production 
limits of the 13-nation organisation. 
    Traders and analysts in international oil markets estimate 
OPEC is producing up to one mln bpd above a ceiling of 15.8 mln 
bpd agreed in Geneva last December. 
    They named Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, along with 
the much smaller producer Ecuador, among those producing above 
quota. Kuwait, they said, was pumping 1.2 mln bpd. 
    "This rumour is baseless. It is based on reports which said 
Kuwait has the ability to exceed its share. They suppose that 
because Kuwait has the ability, it will do so," the minister 
said. 
    Sheikh Ali has said before that Kuwait had the ability to 
produce up to 4.0 mln bpd. 
    "If we can sell more than our quota at official prices, 
while some countries are suffering difficulties marketing their 
share, it means we in Kuwait are unusually clever," he said. 
    He was referring apparently to the Gulf state of qatar, 
which industry sources said was selling less than 180,000 bpd 
of its 285,000 bpd quota, because buyers were resisting 
official prices restored by OPEC last month pegged to a marker 
of 18 dlrs per barrel. 
    Prices in New York last week dropped to their lowest levels 
this year and almost three dollars below a three-month high of 
19 dollars a barrel. 
    Sheikh Ali also delivered "a challenge to any international 
oil company that declared Kuwait sold below official prices." 
    Because it was charging its official price, of 16.67 dlrs a 
barrel, it had lost custom, he said but did not elaborate. 
    However, Kuwait had guaranteed markets for its oil because 
of its local and international refining facilities and its own 
distribution network abroad, he added. 
    He reaffirmed that the planned meeting March 7 of OPEC"s 
differentials committee has been postponed until the start of 
April at the request of certain of the body"s members. 
    Ecuador"s deputy energy minister Fernando Santos Alvite said 
last Wednesday his debt-burdened country wanted OPEC to assign 
a lower official price for its crude, and was to seek this at 
talks this month of opec"s pricing committee. 
    Referring to pressure by oil companies on OPEC members, in 
apparent reference to difficulties faced by Qatar, he said: "We 
expected such pressure. It will continue through March and 
April." But he expected the situation would later improve. 
 REUTER