Qatari Energy Minister Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Atteyah said on Thursday it was "unrealistic " for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to meet international markets demand through output increase, the Kuwait News Agency reported.

Al-Attiyah made the remarks in response to a call by the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, to increase OPEC output, and the Qatari minister attributed current oil products shortage to the halt in several oil refineries in the United States as a result of hurricane Katrina.

He added that the proposed 500,000 barrels per day increase in OPEC output ceiling would not help the situation, especially after the United States release of 30 million barrels of its crude inventories sparked successive drops in oil products prices.

He stressed that the problem lies in the capacity of oil refineries, urging the United States and Europe to offer licenses for investors to build refining plants.

He added that the hurricane Katrina had pushed crude oil prices up to 70 US dollars a barrel, but noted that demand on oil products, such as gasoline and diesel, was the real reason behind the price surge.

Source: Xinhua