OPEC may raise output by 750,000 bpd

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will likely increase the crude oil production by 750,000 barrel per day during their meeting in Vienna beginning Wednesday (today), Neraca reported.

Senior officials of the oil cartel hinted that the 750,000 bpd increase in the production level was needed to push down the oil price to the ideal level of $25 per barrel from about $30 per barrel at present.

"The increase will be above 750,000 bpd but it will not exceed one million bpd," one OPEC official said prior to the meeting. He said that the increase would boost the oil organization's total production level by 3.5 percent, a half of the 7 percent increase made during the organization's meeting in March.

The meeting will discuss the ideal level of the organization's production which could push down the price from $30 per barrel at present to about $25 per barrel, a price level which is considered not too high for consumers and not too low for producers. (*)