OPEC chief sees half-million bpd oil output increase in May

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) may raise oil output by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May, OPEC President and Kuwaiti Energy Minister Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Sabah said Monday.

Despite recent declines in oil prices, the minister told reporters after a parliamentary session here that he believed OPEC will increase output by half a million bpd in May.

The move will be able to increase oil stocks and help cope with growing oil demand later this year, he said.

Oil demand is expected to rise in the third quarter due to the onset of the summer driving season in the United States, the world 's biggest oil consumer.

On March 16, OPEC ministers decided at a meeting in Iran to raise the output quota by 500,000 bpd to 27.5 million bpd in a bid to curb the surging oil prices and promised to boost production by another 500,000 bpd if the prices continue to rise.

The Kuwaiti minister said earlier that OPEC had not implemented the output increase as the prices were on a downward trend, but he insisted that the half-million bpd output increase under discussion is very necessary as daily demand for oil may grow by 1 million barrels in the third quarter of this year.

Meanwhile, Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah also said over the weekend that a second output increase ahead of OPEC's June 15 meeting is still possible.