MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait promise more oil

“The problem is not OPEC, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and production but international concern resulting from political factors”, said Saudi Arabia's Oil minister Sheik Ali al-Naimi during an energy conference this weekend in Dubai.

"My message to the world is there's no shortage, there'll be no shortage, and we are willing to meet demand as it raises", he added revealing that Saudi Arabia still has between 1,5 and 2 million barrels per day spare capacity. Kuwait's Oil Minister Sheik Ahmed Fahd al-Sabah said his country was willing to pump an additional 200,000 barrels per day, and "would support raising OPEC's ceiling production quota by one million barrels per day to 28 million if prices do not slacken".

However OPEC' earlier promise to raise its official production to 27 million barrels beginning November 1 so far has failed to dent prices.

Oil prices ended last Friday at an all time record of above 53 US dollars for Texas light and 49,71 US dollars for London Brent.

Analysts believe prices will continue to balloon as demand from China and the US keep pressing on spare production capacity, and turmoil in several oil exporting areas continues to prevail.

In Nigeria, Africa's biggest producer, oil workers unions have announced a further four days strike for this week. Norwegian unions also remain restless and refining capacity in the Gulf of Mexico following the spate of hurricanes still has to fully recover. Besides political unrest in the Middle East and reiterated sabotage in Iraq oil fields are contributing to fuel uncertainties into the market. Some analysts expect the barrel to reach 60 US dollars in the coming weeks.