With crude oil flirting with the 100 dollars a barrel mark, Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, is emulating the marketing savvy West to showcase the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) in new light when it organises the third Opec summit here this week. |
Besides discussing world oil supplies, prices and energy policies, the summit of the 12-member cartel on November 17 and 18 promises to open up the cloistered group to the world. |
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The Saudi government has invited 350 journalists from the US, China, India, Canada, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico to attend the summit, with a promise to give unprecedented access to OPEC's decision-makers and oil industry executives. |
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Prior to the actual conference, Saudi government has organised four days of "familiarisation tours" to the Kingdom's historically off-limits oil installations. Journalists have also been taken to Saudi national oil firm Saudi Aramco's Dhahran headquarters. |
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Pre-summit conferences included a two-day conclave of oil ministers of member countries that were thrown open for the media. |
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The summit, only the third after the Algerian meet in 1975 and Venezuelan gathering in 2000, is convening under three general themes: providing petroleum, promoting prosperity, and protecting the planet. |
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The summit will be preceded by several activities, including a two-day symposium in which leading energy ministers and international oil experts will take part. The symposium will cover topics such as energy for sustainable development, Opec's role in securing oil supplies and boosting stability, and the future of oil in the global energy mix. |
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Formed in Baghdad in 1960 by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela to "co-ordinate and unify" petroleum policies among member countries, Opec has expanded its membership to include Ecuador, Nigeria, Angola, Algeria, Libya, Qatar and the UAE. |
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The summit programme includes an exhibition of gas and petroleum industrial products that would be attended by international oil firms and engineering companies. There would also be a training seminar for Saudi Arabian economic journalists, to introduce them to the oil and gas industry. |
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The summit aims at highlighting the importance of Saudi Arabia in the international energy industry because of the country's huge reserves of available crude oil. At the end of the summit, a "declaration of principles" will be issued, defining the organisation's stance vis""vis the current, fundamental developments in international oil markets. |
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Despite OPEC's September statement in Vienna expressing unhappiness at rapid increases in prices and efforts to hold the price at around 80 dollars a barrel, oil markets refused to stabilise and oil prices reached 98 dollars a barrel this month. They subsequently subsided. |
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