The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) plans to increase its oil production capacity by 5.5 million barrels a day over the next five years to better meet increasing global demand, OPEC's acting secretary- general said in South Korean southeast city of Gyeongju on Wednesday.

The 11 OPEC member countries will have a production capacity of 38 million barrels a day by 2010 from the present 32.5 million barrels, Adnan said, adding that the expected increase will surpass the current rise in demand.

Shihab-Eldin made the remarks on the sidelines of the one-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 7th Energy Ministers' Meeting (EMM) in Gyeongju, an ancient city located some 400 kilometers southeast to Seoul, reported South Korean Yonhap News Agency.

Shihab-Eldin said that in order to meet this increased capacity, OPEC countries will have to invest an average of 30 billion-50 billion US dollars a year, compared to the current 20 billion dollars.

He said the money will go into developing new fields and support infrastructure, including pipelines, port facilities and power generators

The Kuwaiti national OPEC head also urged the oil-consuming countries to do more to expand their refining facilities, because high oil prices are determined in part by how quickly crude oil is turned into other products.

Earlier Wednesday, South Korean Commerce, Industry and Energy Minister Lee Hee-beom, the chair of this year's EMM, reached a cooperation agreement with Shihab-Eldin on the sideline of the EMM.

According to the agreement, in future, OPEC will talk to APEC members as a group instead of discussing matters to individual members.

Source: Xinhua