Vienna – OPEC ministers edged toward consensus Monday on a proposal to make available 2 million extra barrels of oil a day, while fears about another storm heading for the Gulf Coast drove prices up more than $4 a barrel.
Prices soared above $67 a barrel in New York on worries about Tropical Storm Rita, which was gaining strength in the Bahamas and expected to strengthen to a hurricane with the potential to inflict fresh damage on U.S. refineries.
“I’m always concerned about these types of things,” said Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi. “We’ve said volatility in the market isn’t a benefit to the producer and the consumer.”
OPEC president Sheik Ahmed Fahd Al Ahmed Al Sabah, who also is Kuwait’s oil minister, said support was building for a proposal to make available 2 million extra barrels of oil a day to reassure the market that crude is plentiful.
Oil ministers were to resume debate today on that proposal and other options, including boosting the group’s current output ceiling of 28 million barrels a day by 500,000 barrels.
“There seems to be more support for the 2 million barrels option,” Sheik Ahmed said.
Naimi said the oil-rich kingdom has the capacity to immediately raise its oil production from around 9.5 million barrels a day to 11 million barrels a day if needed.
Crude prices, while still off the record intraday high of $70.85 reached after Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf, regained ground Monday on worries that Rita could sweep into the U.S. oil-producing and refining zone. Light sweet crude for October delivery gained $4.39 to settle at $67.39 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gasoline soared nearly 26 cents to settle at $2.0427 a gallon.
