OPEC suspends talks on fresh output rise

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2005

LONDON (AFP) — The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has suspended talks on a fresh rise in its crude production quota, a spokesman for the oil cartel told AFP.

"The consultation was put on hold for now, until the group reassesses the decision taken on the 15th of June of increasing output by 500,000 barrels" per day, an OPEC spokesman said Thursday.

In its meeting in Vienna on June 15, OPEC decided to raise its production quota by 500,000 bpd to 28 million bpd on July 1 with the option of a second hike of 500,000 bpd before September, according to the discretion of the president.

OPEC president Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah, who is also Kuwait's oil minister, announced last week he would hold talks with other cartel members on hiking...