President of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah said on Tuesday he would propose hiking the cartel's daily crude output by 500,000 barrels at a coming meeting if oil prices continue rising.

Sheikh Ahmad, who is also Kuwaiti energy minister, was quoted by the official KUNA news agency as saying, "If the prices of oil continue rising, I, in my capacity as the chairman of OPEC, will propose increasing the output by 500,000 barrels per day."

OPEC's output ceiling now stands at 27.5 million barrels per day without calculating the oil production of Iraq but actual production is about 30 million barrels per day.

The organization is due to hold a meeting in Vienna, Austria, on June 15, to discuss the output policy for the next half of this year.

Source: Xinhua