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Islamic states
consider using oil as anti-war weapon -
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia
raised the spectre on Wednesday of an Islamic oil embargo as a way of
exerting pressure on the West to prevent war with Iraq, but officials and
analysts such a tactic was unlikely to be used.
Malaysian
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told a news conference at the end of a
special meeting of Islamic leaders and ministers from 49 countries that no
decision had been reached on the idea, long favoured by the Malaysian
leader. “There
has been a suggestion that we look at using our oil wells in order to
exert pressure,” he said. “How this can be done is something else, but
there is a consensus as to the need for us to think about these things.” Represented
among the dozens of presidents, prime ministers and senior officials from
the Islamic world were around 20 oil producers, including Saudi Arabia,
Iran and Kuwait. Delegates
to the special meeting of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC)
have spoken out strongly against plans by the United States and Britain to
attack Iraq if it does not surrender weapons of mass destruction that
Washington and London say Baghdad has hidden. They
have also called on Iraq to comply with the terms of United Nations
resolution 1441 and cooperate fully U.N. weapons inspectors. Mahathir
has suggested in the past that the Muslim world consider using oil as a
way of giving it leverage over the West, but he has also conceded that
such a strategy could be dangerous. “Oil
is a double-edged sword,” Mahathir said. “If (the price of) oil goes
up many of the countries of the South are going to suffer... This
double-edged weapon may hurt us more than it may hurt the other
parties.” OIL MARKET JITTERS Mahathir’s
comments will do nothing to calm oil markets already nervous over the
possibility of losing output from the Middle East, which supplies 40
percent of global oil trade, in the event of a U.S.-led attack on Iraq. Dealers
fear war with Iraq, the world’s eighth largest oil exporter, could slash
crude oil shipments to Western markets. U.S.
light crude oil was up 20 cents at $36.26 a barrel at 0710 GMT. But
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, and other major Islamic
producers such as Iran have repeatedly ignored calls to use oil as a
weapon, mindful of the consequences of the last attempt to link oil supply
with politics. In
the early 1970s, Arab oil producers slapped an oil embargo on the West for
supporting Israel, bringing a sharp rise in prices that eventually
triggered recession. It
also led to a sharp rise in production by non-Arab oil producers, which
forced down oil prices and a sharp decline in income for the members of
the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Iraq
suspended some two million barrels per day of exports in April in protest
against what it said was U.S. support for Israel. No other producers --
Arab or otherwise -- followed suit. Also
in April, fellow OPEC-member Iran called for an oil embargo on Israel and
its allies in support of the Palestinians, but the plea fell on stony
ground in the Arab-dominated exporters’ cartel. “The
major Islamic producers don’t think this is appropriate and prefer to
delink politics from oil,” a Gulf-based oil analyst said. Malaysia
is a minor oil producer, pumping almost 800,000 barrels per day, roughly a
tenth of Saudi output. Its neighbour Indonesia is OPEC’s only Asian
member. Mahathir
said Islamic states realised meddling with the oil market could cause
problems for all countries. “Of
course there were some views that such weapons could rebound and we might
have to pay a very high price,” he said. ”We agreed that we should
think about it, not just dismiss it.”
Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah's.
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