Opec may be unable to increase the flow of oil much

Crude oil prices topped $54 a barrel on Thursday as the first storm of the Caribbean hurricane season headed for oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico.

The price of oil markets' benchmark crudes rose more than $1 on Thursday.

Raising oil output will be on the agenda at next week's meeting of the Organisation of Oil Producing Nations (Opec), the cartel's president said.

Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah said Opec members were interested in seeing oil prices did not damage global growth.

"Any number (that) will make (for) the continuing growth of the economy of the world" would suit Opec, said Sheikh Ahmad at the first joint Opec-EU meeting on stabilising energy prices in Brussels.

But Opec members are already pumping flat out and exceeding the cartel 's output quotas, so oil analysts see little chance of substantial increases in production.

US light crude was at $54.20 a barrel in late afternoon trade in New York, up $1.66, while Brent crude rose $1.67 to $53.78.

US Energy Secretary Sam Bodman has urged Opec to consider raising its output quotas at its Vienna meeting on 15 June.

"We would encourage increases in production to the extent that it's possible," he said on Thursday.

Opec is also considering adjusting its target price range for crude oil to between $30-$50 a barrel, according to Sheikh Ahmad, who is the Kuwaiti energy minister.

An increase in the target price band would take it to a more realistic level after months of high oil prices, and replace the current target band of $22 to $28.

"We are studying our new band price. However I don't think we will have a resolution" at the Vienna meeting, he said.

Under Opec rules, the cartel is committed to increasing production if oil prices exceed the price band for a sustained period. The mechanism has done little to stall oil price rises in the last couple of years.

Kuwaiti media reported Sheikh Ahmad as saying the oil price should be $5 to $8 lower than it is now.

Last year a severe hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico produced a record-breaking surge in crude oil prices.

Other factors keeping prices high included fears about stability in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and stronger growth in the US and developing countries like China and India.

The Opec-EU imitative aims to improve "stability, transparency and predictability in the international oil market", a joint statement said

They pledged to hold another meeting in the second half of this year, and a conference on new technologies in 2006.

(BBC)

cartel: a consortium of independent organizations formed to limit competition by controlling the production and distribution of a product or service（企業(yè)聯(lián)合）

hurricane : a severe tropical cyclone usually with heavy rains and winds（颶風(fēng)，狂風(fēng)）