OPEC producers yesterday sought to play down expectations of a quick fix for an oil price scare that is threatening to derail global economic growth.
OPEC holds informal talks in Amsterdam today to consider a Saudi proposal to increase production quotas by at least 6 percent.
But OPEC is telling consumer nations that it is not to blame for a spike in prices that has kept US crude above US$40 a barrel for 10 days.
"I don't think that control is in OPEC's hands," UAE Oil Minister Obaid bin Saif al-Nasseri said on his arrival in Amsterdam. "There are many factors behind these prices."
The cartel is under heavy pressure from major consuming nations to take action and open the taps on what is left of its spare production capacity.
OPEC ministers will gather for a short meeting this morning ahead of a scheduled conference of oil producing and consuming countries that runs until Monday.
But the 11-member cartel will wait until its full meeting in Beirut on June 3 to agree policy, by which time US$40 oil may be more firmly entrenched.
"It is not an extraordinary meeting. We can only send some signal to the market," Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said of today's talks.
Leading producer Saudi Arabia has called for output quotas to go up by at least 1.5 million barrels daily from OPEC's official 23.5 million barrel-per-day limit.
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