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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, December 04, 2003

OPEC rules out output increase early next year

General Secretary of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Alvaro Silva Calderon said Thursday OPEC would either keep oil output steady or reduce it early next year.


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General Secretary of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Alvaro Silva Calderon said Thursday OPEC would either keep oil output steady or reduce it early next year.

"With the situation as it is, this level of price, the fundamentals of market, I don't see any reason to improve," he told reporters before a meeting of OPEC members.

Insisting that the current supply is enough for the market, Calderon ruled out any increase in output and said a decline in demand is anticipated early next year.

He said that OPEC would most probably keep production at the current level, while a cut in output was also possible.

OPEC member states produce a third of the world's oil at the rate of 24.5 million barrels per day. Considering the present demand and prices, oil ministers of most of OPEC's member states have argued for maintaining the production level.

The organization fears that oil prices might decline next spring when people need less fuel to heat their homes as the weather gets warm in the Northern Hemisphere.

Meanwhile, non-OPEC nations have sharply increased oil production. Russia, for example, has raised export by over 10 percent from January to October, according to the Interfax news agency.

Many analysts believe OPEC members would agree to keep the current output ceiling at the meeting Thursday.


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