Saudis promote increased oil production

Monday, May 10, 2004 | 10:49 a.m.

NEW YORK -- Saudi Arabia's oil minister today said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries should increase quotas by 6.4 percent to prevent rising prices from hurting the world economy.

The group, producer of more than a third of the world's oil, should boost its output target by at least 1.5 million barrels per day, from 23.5 million now, Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi said in a statement.

Oil prices, which last week topped $40 a barrel in New York for the first time since the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf war, fell on the news this morning. New York crude lost as much as $1.31 a barrel, or 3.3 percent, to $38.62 a barrel in electronic trading today.

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