Indonesia ready to increase oil production following OPEC?s decision

Indonesia, Asia?s only OPEC member, is anticipating any decision to increase the group?s oil production by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd), a move to address a further rise in global oil prices, a senior government official told Petromindo.Com Friday.

?We are anticipating an OPEC meeting to discuss the development of oil prices,? said Kardaya Warnika, an expert assistant to the minister of energy mineral resources.

Kardaya, who is also vice chairman of BPMIGAS which holds the highest authority over the country?s upstream oil and gas sector, said that in such a meeting OPEC will decide the volume of oil production to be increased by each of its members.

A senior official in OPEC said Thursday the organization might increase oil production by more than 500,000 barrels a day if the strike in Venezuela and the threat of a US attack on Iraq continued pushing up global oil prices.

The increase could occur in mid-January, the OPEC official said on condition of anonymity.

OPEC has a self-imposed price band mechanism that requires the group to increase production by 500,000 barrels a day if the average price of seven selected crude oils stays above US$28 a barrel for more than 20 consecutive trading days.

The OPEC basket, as the seven crude oils are known, has been above $28 per barrel over the past 14 days.

Indonesia has a quota of 1.125 million bpd of oil from the cartel. (godang)