 |
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) |