ALGIERS May 6 (Reuters) – Raising the output target set by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is not on OPEC’s agenda for now but probably will be, Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Youcef Yousfi said on Sunday.
Asked about the prospect of increasing the target, Yousfi told state radio: “For the moment that is not the object of our discussions, but probably that will come at the OPEC level.”
OPEC is scheduled to meet next on June 14 in Vienna, where it is likely to focus on quotas and production. At a meeting in December last year, the organisation’s production target was set at 30 million barrels per day.
This target came under pressure after oil prices in March jumped to $128 a barrel, the highest since 2008, though they have since fallen back a little.
Many in OPEC believe high prices damage members’ interests by hurting economic growth in consumer countries and so driving down demand for crude long term.
Algeria, along with fellow OPEC members Iran and Venezuela, has in the passed opposed raising output, preferring instead to keep prices high. (Reporting by Christian Lowe and Hamid Ould Ahmed; Editing by Anthony Barker)
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