Price war or orderly cuts - Saudi's view for OPEC

February 11, 1983

A cut in OPEC's key $34-a-barrel oil price is inevitable and the exporter group will face a price war unless it agrees jointly on a reduction, Ahmad Zaki Yamani, Saudi Arabia's influential oil minister, was quoted as saying.

This confirms that the Saudis - which have cut their oil production from 10 million barrels a day to about 4 million - intend to regain some of their lost market share by reducing the $34 benchmark price for Saudi crude, Monitor correspondent Harry Ellis reports.