OPEC Will Cut Output, Defend $100 Oil Price, Pickens Tells CNBC
By Margot Habiby
Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Oil prices are unlikely to drop below $100 a barrel because OPEC will cut production to support the price, billionaire hedge-fund manager Boone Pickens told CNBC today.
``OPEC likes it up here,'' Pickens said in a televised interview from the New York Mercantile Exchange. ``I think they'll support it and cut production.''
The 13 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meet Sept. 9 in Vienna to review production targets.
Oil futures dropped to a five-month low on the Nymex as energy companies prepared to resume output at platforms in the Gulf of Mexico closed by Hurricane Gustav. Crude oil for October delivery fell $6.42, or 5.6 percent, to $109.04 a barrel at 1:09 p.m. Futures are down 26 percent from July's record $147.27.
Today's move ``was a little heavier than I thought, but I figured it would go down,'' Pickens said. ``It's the attitude of the market, and a little bit of news, bad or good, just takes us down further.''
Pickens declined to provide a price forecast for natural gas.
Pickens, 80, is the founder and chairman of Dallas-based BP Capital LLC. He manages funds linked to both energy commodities and equities.
To contact the reporter on this story: Margot Habiby in Dallas at mhabiby@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: September 2, 2008 13:24 EDT
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