Wednesday, October 19 2005 11:54 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Gyeongju (South Korea): A top Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) official said today (Oct 19, 2005) OPEC was expected to increase its production capacity by 5.5 million barrels per day within the next five years.

OPEC Secretary General Adnan Shihab-Eldin made the remarks when he met with South Korean Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy Lee Hee-Beom on the sidelines of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum on energy and mining, a South Korean Government source said.

"The secretary general forecast that within the next five years, the production capacity of OPEC will be expanded from 32.5 million barrels per day to 38 million barrels per day by 2010," it said.

OPEC said on Monday that its 11 members, which jointly supply more than a third of global oil, had produced 30.34 million bpd on average during September, an increase of 130,000 bpd from August.

Noting a decline in production growth in non-OPEC countries, OPEC said these producers, led by Russia, would produce an average 50.3 million bpd this year, slightly less than a previous estimate of 50.4 million bpd.

Following his meeting with the South Korean minister, Shihab-Eldin urged oil-consuming countries to expand refining facilities quickly to fight high-energy prices. He stressed there is spare crude available to be turned into products.

"OPEC would continue making efforts to reassure the market that crude is always available, saying the high oil prices were not justified in light of economic fundamentals,"he said.