OPEC lifts oil output to slow down prices (MarketWatch) (08-03-2011)

TEL AVIV – OPEC members like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait the United Arab Emirates and Nigeria, lift oil output so as to slow down oil prices, which have soared during the unrest in the Arab states.

According to analysts, the move will result to global concerns that the unrest in the Arab nations might interrupt global oil supplies, as well as worries that higher oil prices might send inflation soaring or depress economic growth.

In particular, a production increase at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would make up the shortfall in supplies out of Libya, which is currently wracked by a civil war.

Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad al-Abdullah al-Sabah told reporters Tuesday that OPEC was in talks about increasing production but hadn't yet decided to do so.

Source: MarketWatch