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OPEC Ministers Agree to Offer Extra Oil

Posted on: Wednesday, 21 September 2005, 09:00 CDT

OPEC ministers agree to offer extra oil

VIENNA, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Ministers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed here on Tuesday to provide an extra two million barrels of crude oil a day in a bid to calm down the world oil market.

The deal, an outcome of the two-day OPEC ministers' meeting, said OPEC would make the extra oil available for three months starting on Oct. 1.

However, the 11-member group leaves its official output limit unchanged at 28 million barrels a day because ministers say there is no demand now from refiners for extra cartel crude.

"We don't prefer to increase the ceiling at the moment," Qatar's Oil Minister Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah told a pres conference here. "There's now oil available for three months and if the world needs oil, it's available."

Most OPEC ministers believe that the world oil markets, in London and New York, are well supplied with crude and the problem lies with refining products.

The additional barrels would come from the spare capacity of OPEC members.

It was reported that Saudi Arabia is the only country able to provide significant extra crude. Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates also could contribute.

Oil prices fell Tuesday after rising a day earlier by more than four US dollars a barrel, the biggest one-day price jump ever.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 1.05 US dollars to 66.34 US dollars a barrel by Tuesday afternoon in Europe.

The organization also announced that its next meeting would be held on Dec. 12 in Kuwait.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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