ENERGY

Oil output boost not on OPEC agenda

OPEC ministers will not discuss raising the oil cartel's production ceiling when they meet in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, Qatari Energy Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah said on Saturday.

OPEC ministers will not discuss raising the oil cartel's production ceiling when they meet in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, Qatari Energy Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah said on Saturday.

When asked by AFP if an output increase was on the meeting's agenda, Attiyah said: "No."

The head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Nobuo Tanaka, had appealed on Thursday for an output increase by OPEC members.

"Some additional production is necessary," said Tanaka, whose agency seeks to coordinate the energy policies of some of the world's leading industrialised nations.

In a report published on November 13, the IEA suggested that an additional 900,000 barrels a day would be needed from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries in the fourth quarter.

But Attiyah took issue with Tanaka's comments, noting that the IEA had forecast falling demand in both the first and second quarters of next year.

"It's the IEA that is telling us that demand will be falling. How then can they ask for an increase in supply?" he asked, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) in the Qatari capital.

World prices have fallen sharply in recent days in expectation of an output increase from OPEC, which accounts for roughly 40 percent of global production.

On Friday New York's main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, fell 2.03 dollars to close at 88.71 dollars per barrel, after earlier striking a one-month low of 88.52 dollars.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for January tumbled 1.96 dollars to settle at 88.26 dollars a barrel.

OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia has yet to pronounce on an output increase.

When asked on Saturday whether OPEC would need to pump more oil to meet fourth quarter demand, Riyadh's Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi said: "We don't know yet."

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