Opec may raise output if oil hits $100: Kuwait

Opec might raise production in September if oil prices rise to $100 (Dh367) a barrel but will not act if they are at $75, Kuwait's oil minister said on Wednesday.

"Seventy-five dollars ... (Opec) will not increase output ... but if it reached $100, then maybe," Sheikh Ahmad al-Abdullah al-Sabah told reporters at parliament.

US crude oil futures for July delivery hit a new seven-month high on Wednesday, rising $1 to $71.04 a barrel by 0624 GMT, following a drawdown in crude oil inventories in the United States.    Oil has more than doubled since the low $30s hit during the northern hemisphere's winter on expectations of an economic recovery that would lead to higher oil demand. But prices are still more than 50 percent below a record high of $147.27 touched in July last year.

He said overall global demand was still weak but there were signs of a recovery in Asia.

"In Asia, yes there are signs, but overall we do not see a rise in demand, that is why we should be cautious," he said.

Major Chinese refiners are planning to raise their crude oil processing in June to record-high levels after some plants complete maintenance, encouraged by rising fuel sales and declining fuel inventories.

On Tuesday, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) raised its 2009 demand forecast by 10,000 barrels per day (bpd) in its June outlook, the first time since September that it has increased the demand estimated in its rolling monthly forecast. .

World oil demand is expected to top 83.68 million bpd this year, but it is still expected to be well below 2008 levels when oil use topped 85.43 million bpd, the EIA said. 

 

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