OPEC unable to increase production
OPEC is to urge producers outside the cartel to increase global oil production and cool high prices in response to attacks on Iraq’s oil facilities.
President Purnomo Yugiantoro said he would send letters to Russia, Angola, Mexico and Oman to request they pump more crude oil.
“They have spare capacity to increase production,” Purnomo, who is also Indonesian oil minister, told reporters. He did not give any details or timeframe.
Oil prices were shot up higher again on Tuesday after saboteurs attacked two oil pipelines in Iraq, bringing the country’s crude exports to a virtual halt.
US crude touched $38.40 a barrel after news of the Iraqi blasts.
Iraq production figures
Iraq had been exporting an average 1.6 million to 1.7 million barrels a day (bpd) from the southern oil terminal Basra and about 200,000 bpd from the northern Kirkuk oilfields.
Fears that saboteurs would strike at oil facilities in the Middle East have helped stoke prices higher this year.
Robust economic growth and strong oil demand, especially in the United States and China, have left little room in the supply chain for any disruption in a major producer.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed earlier this month to increase formal supply limits by two million bpd.
The move is designed to stop a run-up in oil prices to the highest levels in 21 years above $42 a barrel.