Opec output adequate
MARKET REVIEW/ International - Crude Oil
| US light crude for September delivery was one cent to $40.45 a barrel after falling $1 on Tuesday. In that session the expiring August crude contract briefly touched a six-week peak at $42.30, just 15 cents off the all-time high for US crude futures at $42.45, before falling back sharply. |
| London's Brent crude rose 15 cents to $37.16 a barrel. |
| Fresh data from Chinese Customs on Wednesday showed June crude imports at a record of more than 11 million tonnes, while the country's buying for the first six months rose 39 per cent from a year ago to a little over 61 million tonnes. |
| China, which imports roughly one-third of its crude oil needs, overtook Japan last year to be the second biggest oil consumer after the United States. |
| Strong demand has heightened concerns over a lack of spare capacity with by geopolitical tensions in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Venezuela and Russia -- all major oil-producing nations. |
| The OPEC producers' cartel, which cancelled last week a policy meeting scheduled for Wednesday, will raise its official output ceiling by 500,000 bpd from Aug. 1 to 26 million bpd, although actual group production is estimated roughly two million bpd above that level. |
| OPEC President Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Wednesday the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries only had spare capacity for the short term. |
| "We have spare capacity but for the short term. Therefore, we call on non-OPEC producers to help add to supply to stabilise oil prices,"Purnomo said. |