Opec may boost oil output further
Opec will consider another production hike of 500,000 barrels a day if oil prices do not fall in the next 10 days, the cartel’s president said today.
“As OPEC, we will continue to watch the market closely,” said Sheik Ahmed Fahd Al Ahmed Al Sabah, who is also Kuwait’s energy minister.
“We believe that if prices stay as they are in the next seven to 10 days, we will start contacting minister colleagues to discuss the other 500,000 that the president has the authority (to decide on) after consultations,” he said in Kuwait City
OPEC oil ministers decided at a meeting in Isfahan, Iran, yesterday to authorise an immediate increase in the group’s output ceiling of 500,000 barrels a day, and another increase of similar magnitude later.
The cost of a barrel of US light crude hit a fresh record today, rising by 73 US cents to 57.19 US dollars in afternoon futures trading. London’s Brent crude topped 55 dollars for the first time, trading at 55.85 dollars a barrel this morning.
