LONDON -- OPEC oil ministers plan to meet in emergency session next
week to decide on an additional increase in oil output.
Arab diplomatic sources said the meeting will take place in Vienna on
Tuesday at the urging of Saudi Arabia, Middle East Newsline reported. Riyad has said it will raise its
production output by 500,000 barrels per day in a drive to reduce oil
prices.
The London-based Al Hayat daily said on Friday that OPEC members have
agreed in principle to an increase of 500,000 barrels per day. This is in
addition to the increase of 700,000 barrels a day that the cartel agreed
upon last month.
The newspaper said OPEC also is considering a proposal to increase the
export of so-called "sour crude," an inferior oil but which is found in high
quantity in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Sour crude sells for about $4 a barrel.
Sweet crude, the standard oil, is selling for $31 a barrel.
U.S. officials have pressed OPEC to increase production so that oil
prices can be reduced. The officials said high demand during the summer has
hurt supplies in parts of the country.
"The U.S. refinery system has little excess capacity, and continuing
growth in the number of distinct gasoline types that must be delivered to
different locations increases the potential for temporary supply disruptions
and increased volatility," John Cook, director of the petroleum division for
the U.S. Energy
Information Administration, told the Senate Energy Committee on Thursday.
"While the first hurdle of the
transition to summer-grade gasoline is behind us, we may experience more
volatility before the summer is over."
