More oil will not cool prices, says OPEC

Riyadh: Oil prices would probably not fall even if OPEC raises production when it meets in December, since the market is being supported by factors other than supply, the oil ministers of Algeria and Iran said on Thursday.

Asked whether OPEC would raise output when it meets on Dec. 5, Algeria's Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil Khelil said: "We haven't got the agenda yet but it will
certainly be among the issues to be discussed at the Abu Dhabi meeting."

"We have all the factors that impact the price, so if we increase, we are going to have the same phenomenon that happened before, which means, it may not even impact on the price," he told Reuters ahead of a heads of state summit in Riyadh, where ministers will not discuss output policy.

At its last policy meeting in September, OPEC agreed to raise production by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) from Nov. 1, a move that failed to stop oil surging to a record-high $98.62 last week. Oil has since fallen to around $94 a barrel.

Asked what action OPEC would likely take in December, Khelil said: "No change, because there is good supply. If there is anything to be done, it will be done to help psychologically the market. There is no need really."

"Supply and demand are in equilibrium."

Khelil's remarks echoed those made by Iranian Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari, who said earlier on Thursday that international markets had sufficient crude supply, and increasing OPEC's output would not bring down prices.

"All evidence suggests that there is enough oil in global markets, and an increase in OPEC's share (of production) would not have an impact on global oil prices," Nozari said, as reported by the official IRNA news agency reported.