Opec oil producers are consulting about a supply boost but many in the group remain sceptical, saying high prices are due to fears of shortage and world supply is comfortable despite the loss of Libyan crude. The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has yet to officially change its production policy, even though it has been boosting supply informally for months and Saudi Arabia has offered to help make up for the loss of around two thirds of Libya's output.
"We are in consultations about a potential output increase, but have not yet decided," Kuwait's Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad al-Abdullah Al-Sabah told reporters on Tuesday. A different message emerged from Iran, Opec's leading oil price hawk and holder of the rotating Opec presidency in 2011. Its Opec governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi downplayed speculation of more Opec oil. "There is no shortage in the market," he told Reuters. "There is no need for further Opec supply." "But the consumers are worried, this is psychological."
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