World oil prices fell today as the United States and Britain delayed a UN Security Council vote on Iraq and Saudi Arabia pledged to ensure there would be enough oil.
US light crude slipped 33 cents to $36.94 a barrel, below its recent peak of $39.99. London benchmark Brent for April fell 37 cents to $33.32 a barrel. Oil prices set a record high of $41.15 a barrel during the 1990-91 Gulf crisis.
Traders were awaiting the outcome of a meeting of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna scheduled to begin at midday.
The meeting was expected to stop short of endorsing a plan to allow members to pump oil at will and to instead keep existing output limits of 24.5 million barrels daily. But the cartel was also expected to signal its intention to ensure supply in the event of a disruption.
Saudi Oil Minister Mr Ali al-Naimi said today his country had production capacity to spare and promised the world market would not run short of oil in the event of war in Iraq.
But Mr Naimi said he saw no reason to suspend OPEC output limits and said OPEC without quotas would be "chaos".
He said OPEC was producing at its output ceiling of 24.5 million barrels per day, but declined to comment on the current level of production from Saudi Arabia, the only OPEC member with significant scope to pump more oil.
Saudi Arabia has made clear it is prepared to pump at maximum levels, with or without OPEC backing. Riyadh has lifted output sharply in recent weeks and is now pumping more than nine million barrels per day of its 10.5 million barrels per day capacity.