Crude oil futures rose Thursday as analysts said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ( OPEC) had very limited spare capacity to carry out its promise of higher output.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude oil futures for July delivery rose 1.74 dollars to end at 54.28 dollars a barrel. Meanwhile, on London's International Petroleum Exchange, the July Brent crude-oil futures contract climbed 1.71 dollars to settle at 53.82 dollars per barrel.

OPEC promised to raise its output target by another 500,000 barrels a day. But OPEC members, excluding Iraq, had already pumped 28.14 million barrels a day last month. surpassing its earlier target of 27.5 million barrels a day. Many analysts said any promise of higher output from the oil cartel would be hollow because the group had little additional production capacity.

OPEC members would meet in Vienna on June 15 to discuss production target.

Source: Xinhua