Kuwait and the UAE said OPEC may agree to keep pumping above formal oil output quotas
Kuwait and the UAE said OPEC may agree to keep pumping above formal oil output quotas to cool down overheated markets, as US oil prices again threaten to breach $55 a barrel.
"The decision may be to maintain current production levels with the aim of calming the market," UAE Oil Minister Mohamed al-Hamli said in a statement issued ahead of a March 16 OPEC meeting in Isfahan, Iran.
Hamli did not specify how much the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is now producing, but a Reuters survey showed 10 members excluding Iraq pumping 600,000 bpd above an official 27 million barrels per day (bpd) ceiling in February.
His Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah, also Opec president, acknowledged on Saturday that sky-high oil prices have tempted some members to exceed their quotas.
"I think that now everybody is overproducing," he said. "Current prices make it lucrative for everybody to hike production without the need for an (official) decision. "
