Kuwait's Oil Minister Sheikh Saud Nasser al-Sabah on Sunday ruled out any increase in crude oil production outside the OPEC price band mechanism.
"There will be no hike in crude output except through the OPEC's price band mechanism upon which all member states have agreed," Sheikh Saud said, quoted by Al-Anba newspaper.
The OPEC price band mechanism, agreed at the cartel's March meeting, provides for an automatic output increase if the price of a basket of OPEC crudes remains above 28 dollars, or below 22 dollars a barrel, for 20 consecutive working days.
The current price of the basket has remained above 28 dollars only since the start of the week, meaning that an increase could not be triggered before OPEC's ministerial conference scheduled for September 10 in Vienna.
Oil prices on Friday spiked to well over 32 dollars a barrel on both sides of the Atlantic and climbed to 10-year-high levels in London, as US stock levels remained around 24-year lows.
An economic report published here, meanwhile, said Kuwait had sold crude oil at an average 26 dollars a barrel in the first 41 days of the 2000/2001 fiscal year, which began July 1st, double the price adopted in calculating budgetary oil revenues.
Al-Shall Economic Consultants said the price of the emirate's crude sold at between 24.52 and 27.48 dollars a barrel from July 1st to August 10th.
The current fiscal year in Kuwait has been shortened to nine months due to changing the July-June year to April-March - KUWAIT CITY (AFP)
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