OPEC to have another discussion if oil prices remain high for 10 days: president

Kuwaiti Minister of Energy Sheikh Ahmad Fahad al-Sabah, the current OPEC president, said Thursday that the cartel's member states would discuss oil prices if the hiking trend kept going within 10 days, the Kuwait News Agency reported.

Sheikh Ahmad said after his arrival from Iran where he chaired the last OPEC meeting that it would take some time until the oil market digests the organization's decision of oil output increase.

He said he would discuss high oil prices with OPEC member states if a barrel was sold over 55 US dollars.

Regarding the organization's readiness to meet oil markets' demands in the rest of this year, Sheikh Ahmad said OPEC was able to meet the demands by supplying 27.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in the second quarter of this year.

OPEC, he added, would supply 28.5 million bpd in the third quarter and 33.3 million for the fourth.

OPEC declared on Wednesday to immediately raise its quota by 500,000 bpd to 27.5 million bpd in order to rein in soaring oil prices at the end of its ministerial meeting held in the western Iranian city of Isfahan.

But the market turned out an ignoring reaction to OPEC's decision. Crude oil futures leapt to an all-time record of 57.6 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange late Thursday.