OPEC has no plans to boost production

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 Doha today.

Geopolitical risks in West Asia and Africa are pushing oil prices higher, rather than a lack of production, 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 yesterday from Tripoli.

The International Energy Agency, an adviser to 26 oil-consuming nations based in Paris, on May 15 called on OPEC to pump more oil to make up for the loss in production from Nigeria, and also because consumption is due to increase during summer as people go on holiday.