OPEC agreed on an increase in output of 800,000 barrels per day from October 1st, ministers told reporters Sunday after an informal meeting in Vienna, reported AFP.
Algerian Minister Chakib Khelil said the figure had been agreed at the meeting at a Vienna hotel, ahead of a formal session of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) later in the day.
"We are very pleased," said the United Arab Emirates (UAE) minister on returning to his hotel after the meeting, also confirming the 800,000 figure, said AFP.
The Kuwaiti minister said the agreement would come into effect as of October 1st. He added that the formal OPEC session was planned to begin at 4:00 p.m. (1400 GMT).
AFP reported earlier that Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar-Zanganeh approved a proposal for boosting oil production following an agreement with Saudi Arabia, state radio reported Sunday.
He said Tehran agreed with an output hike of 500,000 barrels a day just after Saudi Arabia announced that other OPEC members supported a production hike.
OPEC oil ministers were due to meet in full session Sunday in Vienna to decide on a production hike to ease soaring prices, which have sparked worldwide concern.
The ministers have been holding bilateral talks informally in the Austrian capital since Friday.
The Iranian minister's announcement also comes just three days after Iranian President Mohammed Khatami said Tehran was not opposed to a rise in oil production proportional to a rise in world demand, said the agency.
"In principle, we are not against the output rise in proportion to the rise of the world demand," Khatami told a press conference at the United Nations in New York.
Upon his arrival to Vienna, Ali al-Nuaimi, oil minister of Saudi Arabia, referred to the cartel's preferred price range of $22-$28 a barrel, but added that petroleum producers should not take sole responsibility for prices now running at decade-highs of some $34, according to Reuters.
"We hope that the consuming countries will do their part to lower the product price and lower the burden on consumers, " Nuaimi said, a reference to taxes that account for three-quarters of the price of petrol in Europe.
He said an increased demand was expected over the next three months, adding that OPEC members might strike "a balance between interests of oil producers, oil suppliers and people in demand of oil."
The proposed OPEC price-band mechanism, which automatically adds 500,000 barrels a day to oil production was triggered, in line with an agreement earlier this year, according to Iraq's oil minister Saturday.
The mechanism, agreed in March, allows for the set increase in production by the 11-member cartel if prices remain outside of a target band of 22-28 dollars for over 20 days.
"To my knowledge there has been instruction to trigger it," Iraqi Minister Amer Rasheed told reporters on the eve of a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on boosting production, according to AFP.
"It should have been operational today," he added.
In theory the price-band mechanism should have been implemented on Friday, 20 days after the price of OPEC's reference basket of crudes went over 28 dollars last month.
Iraq, a member of OPEC, is not included in its production-limiting arrangements because of the UN sanctions imposed on it following the Gulf War – (Several Sources)
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