[Goldfisch]

Posted on Tue, May. 18, 2004

OPEC urged to boost output

LONDON — Oil prices surged close to $42 a barrel Monday as markets shrugged off a Saudi proposal that OPEC raise its official output target by 6 percent.

Analysts argued that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries must do more — by adding real barrels to world supplies — if it expects to curb the relentless rise in crude prices.

A senior OPEC delegate, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the group was so worried about overheated prices that it might consider making a larger increase in its target than Saudi Arabia initially suggested last week.

OPEC, which supplies one-third of the world’s oil, plans emergency talks this weekend in Amsterdam to discuss a possible target increase of 1.5 million barrels. Because OPEC already exceeds its current target by more than this amount, analysts say such a move would only legitimize some of OPEC’s overproduction and do nothing to trim prices.

Futures contracts of U.S. light crude for June delivery reached $41.85 a barrel in New York, before retreating to $41.55, up 17 cents from Friday’s close. It was a new record close on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

June gasoline futures also reached a new high Monday in Nymex trading, closing 0.69 cent higher at $1.417 per gallon. The average retail price of regular unleaded gasoline in the United States is $1.97 per gallon, according to AAA.

Quelle: The Associated Press