Azerbaijan, Baku, June 3 / Trend, A. Badalova /
OPEC will slightly increase quota for oil production at an upcoming meeting next week, the U.S. Energy Security Analysis, Inc. (ESAI) Oil Markets Department head Rick Mueller believes.
"OPEC will slightly increase its official quota to bring it closer to the actual production levels," Mueller wrote Trend in an e-mail.
At present, oil production quotas officially set by OPEC hits 24.845 million barrels per day. In fact, the oil production by the cartel exceeds this figure. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), OPEC's total oil production in the first quarter of 2011 amounted to 29.68 million barrels per day. In 2011, the EIA predicts oil production by the cartel at 29.32 million barrels per day, while in 2012 - at 29.96 million barrels per day.
The next OPEC meeting will be held in Vienna on June 8. According to a source in OPEC oil production level is planned to increase by 1.5 million barrels per day. Increasing oil production is aimed at covering the deficit from a reduction of supplies from Libya, RBK quotes the Italian AGI news agency as reporting.
According to forecasts of the U.S. major bank JP Morgan's analysts, OPEC may decide to increase oil production quotas to 27.5 million barrels per day at the upcoming meeting.
Mueller believes that increasing oil production level by OPEC might briefly take oil prices down somewhat.
"But the market has learned to largely discount the official quota levels," he said.
According to Mueller, until actual production levels start rising, prices will remain strong.
Oil prices on world markets dropped the day before against the background of negative macroeconomic statistics on the United States.
As a result of the trades on Wednesday, June 1, price of July futures for WTI at the New York Mercantile Exchange fell by $2.41 - to $100.29 per barrel. Price of July futures for Brent fell by $2.2 - to $114.53 per barrel at the London Stock Exchange.