OPEC, which supplies about two-fifths of the world's oil, won't heed calls from consumers to increase output for the summer driving season, officials from Libya and Qatar said.
“We are convinced that the market is not short of supply,” Qatari Energy Minister Abdullah Al-Attiyah told reporters in the Persian Gulf nation's capital Doha Monday.
Geopolitical risks in the Middle East and Africa, not lack of production, are pushing oil prices higher, he said.
The 12-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries “doesn't see a need” to backtrack on decisions announced last year to reduce output by 1.7 million barrels a day, Shokri Ghanem, the chairman of Libya's National Oil Corp., said in a telephone interview Sunday from Tripoli.
The International Energy Agency, which advises 26 oil consuming nations, on May 15 called on OPEC to pump more oil, to make up for lost production from Nigeria and to meet demand during the summer, when gasoline consumption peaks. Crude traded above $65 a barrel in New York Monday after gaining 4.1 percent last week.
OPEC ministers will “consult with each other and discuss the situation in the market” on the sidelines of a meeting with European Union energy officials on June 21, said Ghanem. The meeting will take place in Vienna, the Austrian capital, that hosts OPEC's headquarters. ------------------ No need
Ghanem and Al-Attiyah said OPEC doesn't need to hold a formal meeting before its next ministerial conference in September.
Political violence in the aftermath of last month's elections in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, forced companies including Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Chevron Corp. and Eni Spa to reduce production.
Crude oil prices doubled in four years to about $65 a barrel, driven by higher consumption in China and India, lower production in the U.S. and European nations such as the UK and Norway, and a shortage of refining capacity worldwide.
OPEC has no “magic solution to the shortage in supply in the U.S. gasoline market,” said Al-Attiyah, whose country is the smallest OPEC producer, with an output of 800,000 barrels a day.
Al-Attiyah said Qatar plans to increase its oil production capacity to one million barrels a day by 2009, mainly from the Al- Shaheen offshore field, operated by the oil unit of A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, the world's largest container-shipping company. The emirate's capacity stands now at 830,000 barrels a day, he said.
Gasoline supplies fell 7.5 percent below their five-year average during the week ended May 11, according to the U.S. Energy Department. The summer driving season, when gasoline demand peaks, begins with the Memorial Day holiday on May 28 and runs through Labor Day in early September.
OPEC produced in April at an average of 30 million barrels a day, according to Bloomberg estimates.
“We are convinced that the market is not short of supply,” Qatari Energy Minister Abdullah Al-Attiyah told reporters in the Persian Gulf nation's capital Doha Monday.
Geopolitical risks in the Middle East and Africa, not lack of production, are pushing oil prices higher, he said.
The 12-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries “doesn't see a need” to backtrack on decisions announced last year to reduce output by 1.7 million barrels a day, Shokri Ghanem, the chairman of Libya's National Oil Corp., said in a telephone interview Sunday from Tripoli.
The International Energy Agency, which advises 26 oil consuming nations, on May 15 called on OPEC to pump more oil, to make up for lost production from Nigeria and to meet demand during the summer, when gasoline consumption peaks. Crude traded above $65 a barrel in New York Monday after gaining 4.1 percent last week.
OPEC ministers will “consult with each other and discuss the situation in the market” on the sidelines of a meeting with European Union energy officials on June 21, said Ghanem. The meeting will take place in Vienna, the Austrian capital, that hosts OPEC's headquarters. ------------------ No need
Ghanem and Al-Attiyah said OPEC doesn't need to hold a formal meeting before its next ministerial conference in September.
Political violence in the aftermath of last month's elections in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, forced companies including Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Chevron Corp. and Eni Spa to reduce production.
Crude oil prices doubled in four years to about $65 a barrel, driven by higher consumption in China and India, lower production in the U.S. and European nations such as the UK and Norway, and a shortage of refining capacity worldwide.
OPEC has no “magic solution to the shortage in supply in the U.S. gasoline market,” said Al-Attiyah, whose country is the smallest OPEC producer, with an output of 800,000 barrels a day.
Al-Attiyah said Qatar plans to increase its oil production capacity to one million barrels a day by 2009, mainly from the Al- Shaheen offshore field, operated by the oil unit of A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, the world's largest container-shipping company. The emirate's capacity stands now at 830,000 barrels a day, he said.
Gasoline supplies fell 7.5 percent below their five-year average during the week ended May 11, according to the U.S. Energy Department. The summer driving season, when gasoline demand peaks, begins with the Memorial Day holiday on May 28 and runs through Labor Day in early September.
OPEC produced in April at an average of 30 million barrels a day, according to Bloomberg estimates.