The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) may raise production ceiling again before the next ministerial meeting in September, the cartel's rotating President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said Tuesday in Vienna.

OPEC would further raise its daily output ceiling by 500,000 barrels through telephone consultations in the coming two months, should oil prices remain high, Al-Fahad, also Kuwaiti energy minister, told reporters.

Oil ministers of OPEC members are expected to lift the quotas by 500,000 barrels at Wednesday's meeting here. OPEC output excluding Iraq has reached 28 million barrels per day, beyond its current ceiling of 27.5 million barrels.

Al-Fahad forecast the cartel's production, including Iraq, will rise to 30.5 million to 31 million barrels per day in the last quarter of this year and meet the demands of the international market, which will rise from the current 29 million to 30.5 million barrels daily.

Saudi Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Nuaimi stressed Tuesday that oil is not in short supply in the international market. He blamed the soaring crude prices on the lack of processing capacity of the refineries in industrialized countries.

Source: Xinhua