oilers & resources to get hammered, page-2

Press Trust of India
LONDON, June 2. —- Crude oil futures declined from a record in New York and from a 13 -and-half year high in London after Opec officials signaled output may reach full capacity to lower prices.
Brent crude oil futures for July settlement fell 57 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $38.51 a barrel on London’s International Petroleum Exchange. The contract closed at $39.08 yesterday, the highest since October 1990.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for July delivery slid 48 cents to $41.86 a barrel after reaching $42.45 earlier, the highest price since trading began in 1983. The contract surged 6.1 percent yesterday.
All Opec members are in agreement to increase Opec quotas substantially, said Qatar’s energy minister, Mr Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, adding that 2.5 million barrels a day is a substantial amount. Opec, the producer of a third of the world’s oil, wants to prevent higher energy costs from crimping economic growth.
It’s easier said than done, said Mr Bruce Evers, an analyst at Investec Securities in London. Spare capacity is pretty limited. They’re just trying to talk down the market.
Meanwhile the European Union finance ministers, have expressed concern at surging oil prices that could stifle Europe’s fledgling recovery, and called on Opec to calm the market. The meeting of the 12 eurozone finance ministers in Luxembourg came as crude oil prices in New York soared to a new closing high of $42.33 per barrel and an intra-day record peak of $42.38 .
EU Economic and monetary affairs commissioner Mr Joaquin Almunia urged Opec members to take coordinated action to lower oil prices.
Such action would be welcome and beneficial for the euro area and EU economies, Mr Almunia said yesterday speaking after the Eurogroup meeting.
Mr Almunia confirmed that surging oil prices were forecast to shave off 0.2 per cent of the European Commission’s eurozone growth forecast of 1.7 per cent for 2004 and to add 0.2 per cent to inflation