In a statement released Friday by the OPEC's headquarters in Vienna, Mr Yusgiantoro points out that to be able to appreciably increase their oil export levels, independent producers will have to step up investment in their oil industries. This also holds true for most of the OPEC member nations, he adds.
Some of the major non-OPEC oil producers may not be able to boost their outputs now, but they will be able to do so in the foreseeable future, the OPEC President points out in his statement. In his opinion, there is no point now in sending formal letters to the governments of non-OPEC petroleum exporting states, requesting that they support the oil cartel and increase their own export levels, as both Moscow and Oslo have already made it clear they will not do so any time soon. And besides, Norway's oil production is at its peak capacity already, Mr Yusgiantoro notes.
At its 131st emergency ministerial session in Beirut June 3, the OPEC agreed to increase its oil production and export quotas by 2 million barrels a day. If the oil prices on world markets fail to settle at an acceptable level by August, the cartel says it will increase its daily output by another 0.5 million barrels, thereby raising the export ceiling to 26.5 million bpd.
