 |
|
OPEC President Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Sabah. OPEC will consider on Monday and Tuesday whether to raise crude production by 500,000 barrels per day or maintain its current quota, amid high prices which many blame on a lack of refining capacity rather than a crude oil supply shortfall. (AFP)
|
OPEC oil producers on Sundaywavered overa supply increase that would aim toallayconsumer country concerns about energy security after Hurricane Katrina pushed crude over $70 a barrel.
Under pressure from importing nations, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries begins a two-day meeting on Monday that could lift output just as fuel demand starts tobuckleunder the impact of high prices.
U.S. crude has fallen from a record $70.85 a barrel in the three weeks since Katrina tore into U.S. Gulfrefineries, losing $1.75 on Friday to close at $63.
"For OPEC the price is still very high," OPEC President Sheikh Ahmad al-Sabah told reporters in Vienna.
He met on Sunday with European Union Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs to stress that OPEC wanted to prevent inflated energy costs slowing the global economy.
"We are trying our best to come up with a positive framework to reassure markets about supply and to calm down prices which have started to have a negative effect, even if slightly, on economic growth," the OPEC president said.
Ministers are discussing raising output by 500,000 or 1 million barrels a day. But a third option wasgaining groundthat would see production left unchanged with a vow to release spare capacity when the market can absorb it.
Some said they were reluctant to sanction additional crude when global refining is too stretched to process more.
"The market should rest assured that whatever it needs is there. Before that there is no need to do anything," said Nigerian Oil Minister Edmund Daukoru.
(Agencies)
|
Updated: 2005-09-19 12:03
