Crude oil falls slightly; CTA issues call for tax relief

NEW YORK (Sept. 8, 2000) — Crude oil fell from its 10-year high after Saudi Arabia’s oil minister said OPEC will act to reduce prices at a meeting this weekend in Vienna.

According to several news reports, Saudi Arabia wants between $22 and $28 US a barrel for the group’s oil benchmark, down from yesterday’s $33.84. Crude oil for October delivery fell 86 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $34.53 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices yesterday reached $35.46 a barrel, the highest price since the Persian Gulf War in November 1990.

Brent crude for October settlement fell as much as $1.17, or 3.4 percent, to $33.39 a barrel on London’s International Petroleum Exchange.

Rising prices prompted a call from the Canadian Trucking Alliance, a federation of provincial trucking associations, to Canada’s first ministers to put the issue on their agenda when they meet on Monday in Ottawa.

CTA chief executive officer David Bradley said federal finance minister Paul Martin should act on his suggestion last March to cut the federal fuel tax if provinces would do the same.

“If we take what minister Martin said last March at face value, the federal government has already considered and approved this approach and cutting fuel taxes seems like the place to start,” said Bradley. “Let the Prime Minister put this on the table on Monday and see what the other first ministers have to say.”

Without relief, Bradley warned of renewed protests and blockades by truck operators. Taxes represent about half the selling price of diesel fuel depending on the province, the CTA said.