OPEC President Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Sabah said Friday that he wanted the oil cartel to maintain high production through the northern hemisphere winter to fend off possible price hikes.

Al-Sabah, who is also Kuwaiti oil minister, made the remarks ahead of a meeting of the OPEC-EU Energy Ministerial Dialogue held here, which focused on coordinating oil supply and demand between producer and consumer countries, and on planning energy strategies for the coming years.

The minister said he would recommend that OPEC members not cut the output when the 11-nation group meets on Dec. 12.

According to a recent report, OPEC was producing 30.5 million barrels of oil per day, well above its 28 million barrels production quota, thanks to the extra production of Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil producer.

Meanwhile, the minister urged consumer countries to increase refining capacities, and rationalize taxes which he said too high within the EU.

"If the downstream sector is not able to produce the products that the market wants, then there is pressure" on crude prices, he said.

The lack of refinery capacity is an especially critical problem in the United States, the world's biggest oil consumer, he added.

Al-Sabah also suggested that consumer governments review and rationalize their fuel tax policies in the interest of consumers and the industry as a whole.

But European Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs defended high fuel taxes in Europe as a policy decision to reduce energy consumption.

The price of oil climbed to an all-time high of 70.85 dollars per barrel in New York at the end of August after Hurricane Katrina devastated refining and crude production facilities on the US Gulf Coast.

Since then, prices have eased slightly and a barrel of oil for January delivery was priced at 58.91 dollars in New York on Friday and 56.79 dollars per barrel in London.

However, analysts say oil prices could rise again as a colder-than-usual winter in the US Northeast is likely to boost demand for heating oil.

The meeting at OPEC's headquarters was the second of its kind after the first round of talks in Brussels in June.

Other participants included British Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks, who represented the EU, Austrian Economy and Labor Minister Martin Bartenstein, OPEC Secretary-General Adnan Shihab-Eldin, and Nigerian Oil Minister Edmund Maduabebe Daukoru.

Source: Xinhua