OPEC Cancels Meeting, Will Raise Quotas
LONDON -- With the price of oil stuck above $40 a barrel, OPEC agreed Thursday to raise its daily production target by 500,000 barrels, or 2 percent, to try to keep crude prices from lurching even higher, reported the Associated Press.
OPEC made the increase automatically, by mutual agreement, and canceled a formal July 21 meeting it had planned for its members at its headquarters in Vienna, Austria, said an official for the group, speaking from Vienna on condition of anonymity. The increase will take effect Aug. 1.
While oil-exporting countries are happy to maximize profits, OPEC and its de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, worry that global economic growth and the long-term demand for crude could suffer if prices spike to punishing heights.
OPEC, which pumps more than one third of the world's oil, agreed last month to make a two-step increase in its output ceiling, to try to calm concerns about disruptions in oil supplies from Iraq and a possible terror attack on export facilities for crude in Saudi Arabia. The group decided first to raise its ceiling by 2 million barrels on July 1, and agreed to follow up with a second increase of 500,000 barrels on Aug. 1 if market conditions warranted.
"The market conditions these days actually call for the implementation of the second part of the agreement. There is a consensus that the extra 500,000 barrels should be implemented Aug. 1," the OPEC official said. A meeting of OPEC representatives to discuss the matter in person would be "a waste of time," the official added.
OPEC's production target is now 25.5 million barrels a day.
A senior adviser to one OPEC oil minister said that next week's meeting has been canceled and confirmed that the minister would not be traveling to Vienna as originally planned. The adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the minister told OPEC "just to go ahead with the increase."
However, few analysts expect the increase in OPEC's target to do much to reduce prices. Most of the group's members are already pumping flat out to satisfy strong demand, and oil markets have factored the expected increase into current prices.
OPEC made the increase automatically, by mutual agreement, and canceled a formal July 21 meeting it had planned for its members at its headquarters in Vienna, Austria, said an official for the group, speaking from Vienna on condition of anonymity. The increase will take effect Aug. 1.
While oil-exporting countries are happy to maximize profits, OPEC and its de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, worry that global economic growth and the long-term demand for crude could suffer if prices spike to punishing heights.
OPEC, which pumps more than one third of the world's oil, agreed last month to make a two-step increase in its output ceiling, to try to calm concerns about disruptions in oil supplies from Iraq and a possible terror attack on export facilities for crude in Saudi Arabia. The group decided first to raise its ceiling by 2 million barrels on July 1, and agreed to follow up with a second increase of 500,000 barrels on Aug. 1 if market conditions warranted.
"The market conditions these days actually call for the implementation of the second part of the agreement. There is a consensus that the extra 500,000 barrels should be implemented Aug. 1," the OPEC official said. A meeting of OPEC representatives to discuss the matter in person would be "a waste of time," the official added.
OPEC's production target is now 25.5 million barrels a day.
A senior adviser to one OPEC oil minister said that next week's meeting has been canceled and confirmed that the minister would not be traveling to Vienna as originally planned. The adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the minister told OPEC "just to go ahead with the increase."
However, few analysts expect the increase in OPEC's target to do much to reduce prices. Most of the group's members are already pumping flat out to satisfy strong demand, and oil markets have factored the expected increase into current prices.