IEA chief urges OPEC to raise oil output

International Energy Agency (IEA) executive director Claude Mandil called on OPEC countries to increase oil output when they meet in Vienna on September 19-20.

He said in an interview with the energy magazine "Revue le Petrole et le Gaz Arabes" published on Friday that an increase of the oil cartel's production quota would be "a good thing", adding that IEA members might extend arrangements for releasing oil from strategic reserves.

"What would be really very useful would be that OPEC says clearly how much future new capacity it will put into production and makes commitments in terms of volume and the timing, while specifying the amount of light crude," he said.

This action "would help to give the market some visibility and could break the inflationary price spiral", he said.

IEA announced on September 2 that all its 26 IEA member countries would release two million barrels per day for a month from strategic reserves in response to the interrupted oil supplies in the Gulf of Mexico caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Mandil said there was "a possibility" that extra reserves could be put on the market for a longer period than previously agreed, for the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the gas market was unclear because of a lack of information from the affected area.

The Paris-based IEA, grouping 26 industrialized nations with strategic oil reserves, was established in 1974 after the first oil crisis and seeks to coordinate energy policies in order to avoid supply shocks.

Source: Xinhua