Despite rising prices, OPEC in no rush to raise its output targets

VIENNA, Austria (AP) – Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. Global economic turbulence. Fears of a chilly winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

Despite the wide range of factors buffeting world oil markets and keeping crude prices hovering around $75 a barrel, analysts say OPEC will maintain its current output targets when oil ministers meet in Vienna next week.

That could change by year’s end, experts said, predicting that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will be forced to increase production if demand rises and prices edge closer to $80.


”I think prices are going to rise, and that’s probably going to force OPEC’s hand,” Simon Wardell, a senior energy consultant with Global Insight, told The Associated Press.

”If prices go toward $80, there will be a lot of pressure on OPEC to produce more,” said Eshan Ul-Haq, chief analyst at PVM Oil Associates in Vienna. ”$80 is the mark they’ll be looking at.”

AP