Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, which account for almost half of OPEC's oil output, said they're committed to boosting capacity to meet soaring demand that has driven prices to a record.
"Regardless of wherever there is a problem, there is ample supply," Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said in Abu Dhabi before an energy conference.
Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, will maintain spare capacity of 1.5 million to 2 million barrels a day, he said. Saudi Arabia is the only OPEC member that currently holds extra capacity.
Oil prices soared to over US$53 a barrel on Oct. 8, partly on concern the world wouldn't have enough spare capacity to meet eventual supply disruptions during the winter months.
Saudi Arabia's additional production would be about enough to cover disruptions of Iraqi exports if insurgents continue to target the country's oil infrastructure.
"The investment in new capacity has been insufficient and too slow and it will struggle to keep up with the 3 percent demand growth that we saw this year," said Youssef Ibrahim, managing director of Strategic Energy Investment Group in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Prices also gained on Friday after the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port shut for a third time in a month as refiners struggle to boost supplies depleted by Hurricane Ivan. Demand from China and India pushed up global purchases of oil by almost 3 million barrels a day this year.
The United Arab Emirates, the fourth-largest oil producer in the Middle East, will add 300,000 barrels a day of production next year, and 700,000 in 2006, its oil minister said before the same conference.
"We are investing in order to increase our capacity to meet the growing demand," Obaid bin Saif al-Nasseri said. "We are doing all we can to cool prices."
The UAE is pumping 2.5 million barrels a day currently, he said.
Kuwait Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Ahmad al-Sabah said OPEC is doing all it can to lower prices. It is pumping at near capacity and record prices reflect concerns about geopolitics and disruptions to supply, he said.
OPEC members pumped an estimated 30.5 million barrels a day last month, up from 29.9 million a month earlier, Bloomberg data show. Crude oil may rise further on concern refiners will fail to secure sufficient imports to make up for a drop in Gulf of Mexico output caused by Hurricane Ivan, according to a Bloomberg survey last week.
Thirty-three of 45 traders and analysts, or 73 percent, predicted an increase in New York oil futures this week, the biggest margin in favor of a gain in the six months the survey has run. A week ago, 43 percent said oil would rise.
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