P.M. BRIEFING : Saudis Renew Oil Quota Efforts

JIDDA, Saudi Arabia —  The Saudi oil minister today announced new efforts to bring back into line OPEC partners violating the cartel’s oil production quotas and driving down prices, an official report said.

It was the first official Saudi reaction to last week’s wild swings in oil prices as a result of overproduction by some OPEC members.

The current situation not only harms “all producers, but . . . weakens the chances of the anticipated improvement in oil prices during the second half of the current year,” Oil Minister Hisam Nazer was quoted as saying today by the Saudi Press Agency.

The press agency said Nazer will meet Kuwait’s oil minister, Sheik Ali al Khalifa al Sabah, and his United Arab Emirates counterpart, Mana Said Oteiba, in the Red Sea port city of Jidda on Tuesday. He said consultations with other OPEC states were aimed at restoring “their production to the allocated ceiling,” the agency reported.