The OPEC oil cartel responded to rising crude oil prices by raising production by 400,000 barrels per day, the organization said from Vienna.
Crude oil prices topped $100 per barrel last month for the first time since the onset of the global financial crisis in late 2008. At one point in 2008, crude was priced less than $50 a barrel, about $100 per barrel less than earlier that year.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries enacted a quota on oil production to control sliding prices and prices have steadily climbed since to about $101 a barrel in London trading and about $87 a barrel in New York.
The International Energy Agency said a steady rise in oil prices in 2011 has little to do with political unrest in the Middle East, noting a general increase since at least September when oil was trading New York for about $74 dollars a barrel.
OPEC said it was raising oil production by 400,000 bpd to 29.7 million barrels in response to rising prices.
Oil demand is on the rise as global economies starting moving out of recession. OPEC said this would slow as prices continued their steady increase.
“The down risk for the total world oil demand forecast lies with international oil prices,” said the cartel. “Should strong prices remain, this will lead to a reduction in the use of transportation fuels.”
