Kuwait's acting oil minister said yesterday current oil prices were "fair" and that the Gulf Arab state was producing around 3 million barrels of crude per day.
Mustapha Al-Shamali, who is also finance minister, was speaking to reporters at an energy event in Kuwait. He became the acting oil minister in May after Hani Hussein stepped down under pressure from parliament.
Meanwhile, the price of oil was down slightly yesterday.
Oil fell about 40 cents after the government said US oil supplies rose by 300,000 barrels last week. But it quickly bounced back.
Benchmark oil for July delivery was down 12 cents to $ 98.32 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in midday trading.
The United States' inventory of crude oil grew by 300,000 barrels, or 0.1 percent. At 394.1 million barrels, supplies are 1.8 percent above year-ago levels, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.
Analysts expected supplies to drop by 1 million barrels.
Brent crude, a benchmark for many international oil varieties, was up 11 cents to $ 106.13 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
