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Iraq hails OPEC output ceiling decision Power & Materials 3/7/2008 4:17:00 PM By Abdelwahab El Gueyed VIENNA, March 7 (KUNA) -- Iraqi Minister of Oil Hussain al-Shahristani here Friday spoke highly of a recent OPEC decision to keep oil output ceiling unchanged.
The minister was speaking to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) following the ordinary OPEC conference, terming the cartel decision as sound given the fact that the market main constituents of supply and demand were balanced.
He ascribed the current high oil prices, which hit unprecedented record levels, to a set of factors, mainly geopolitical and psychological considerations, speculations in the global oil market to make up for losses sustained due to the US dollar depreciation.
But, he reiterated the OPEC's commitment to supplying sufficient oil to world markets in a way that could ensure the interests of producers and consumers altogether.
Asked when Iraq could join the cartel quota system, the Iraqi minister of oil said Iraq was still off the quota system owing to its extraordinary circumstances.
Iraq's oil production has now reached 2.5 million barrels per day, two millions of which are exported, he said, pointing to an Iraqi plan to boost oil production by half a million barrels per day to total three million tons by the end of this year.
Earlier on Wednesday, the oil ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided to maintain the cartel output ceiling of 29.
6 million barrels a day despite the recent record price rise to more than USD 103 per barrel.
They justified the decision by the fact that the world oil market was "well-supplied with current commercial oil stocks standing above their five-year average," according to a final communiqu{ issued following the OPEC's 148 ordinary conference. The price rises resulted from factors uncontrolled by the OPEC such as heated speculations by dealers and dilapidated refineries as well as geo-political unrest in oil-rich regions, it said.

http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesP...56&Language=en