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West pressures OPEC to increase oil production

https://www.chemnet.com   Aug 03,2007 AFP
PARIS, Aug 2, 2007 - Western countries are turning up the heat on OPEC to ramp up oil production, analysts said Thursday, a day after crude prices soared to record heights.
Analysts said OPEC, which has not commented on the record price, was now obliged to consider increasing production after consistently resisting calls from the International Energy Agency, the consumer country watchdog

Philippe Chalmin, a specialist in raw materials, said pressure was intensifying on OPEC, which has "no interest in having such high market prices."

OPEC "must ask itself the question. We see small cracks" in its position, said Francis Perrin, the editorial director of the magazine Arab Gas and Oil.

The IEA led the way on Wednesday, reiterating its call on the oil producers' cartel to pump more crude.

"Oil prices are very high because they are reacting to the announcement of American stocks, which have fallen a lot more than expected," Claude Mandil, the head of the energy watchdog told AFP.

"I hope that everyone will draw the consequences," he said, in reference to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which has resisted previous IEA appeals to pump more crude to keep oil prices down.

The price of New York crude soared to a record high of 78.77 dollars a barrel on Wednesday, as plunging US inventories stoked fears about stretched energy supplies around the world.
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