Opec pumping at full capacity: Iranian minister

Opec is pumping at full capacity, Iran's oil minister said on Saturday but added that any move by the cartel to legitimise its over-production would not affect the market. "Opec members are supplying world markets with their utmost capacity," Bijan Zanganeh was quoted as saying on the oil ministry Web site. "But legitimising the extra output from these countries will not have any affect on market conditions," he added. Iran, Opec's second biggest producer, is a traditional price hawk and often plays down the cartel's ability to cool high-flying prices that many industrialised nations have said pose a threat to economic growth. Opec's president said on Friday the cartel would continue pumping in excess of its own official output limits, at about 30.5 million barrels per day (bpd), allowing stocks to build further on a comfortably-supplied world market.