Opec ministers favour leaving output steady at their meeting in Vienna this week, although record oil prices could make them talk about a small increase in production.
Consumers, led by top fuel burner the United States, have urged the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) to produce more oil in an attempt to cool prices and to limit economic slowdown. Oil hit a new record of $103.95 on Monday.
Opec ministers have said prices have been driven by factors beyond their control, including a weak US dollar and political tension, and not by a lack of oil. Libya's top oil official Shokri Ghanem, the first to arrive in Vienna ahead of Wednesday's meeting, did not expect a change. "It is not a good time for action, it is a time for watching," he told Reuters on Monday. Speaking before he left Kuwait, the country's acting oil minister said he saw no evidence a supply increase was needed.
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