Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia and Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) president Kuwait sought to reassure consumers yesterday that they would meet their oil needs despite an OPEC deal on Monday that built a case for an output cut in spring. Oil raced above $ 61 after the cartel that supplies a third of the world?s crude said an offer to sell all its two million bpd of spare oil would lapse at year-end. It also moved to pull output within an official 28 million barrels per day limit and said the group would meet again on January 31, earlier than expected.

For months OPEC has been pumping at the highest rate for 25 years in response to near-record prices that are filling oil producers? coffers but hurting world economic growth. ?I have said we are continuing the way we are,? Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told reporters yesterday. OPEC?s largest producer by far, Saudi Arabia has shouldered most responsibility for keeping worried consumer nations supplied. Asked if the world?s biggest oil exporter would carry on producing oil at current levels, Naimi said: ?It depends on the customer. If nobody wants 9.5 (million bpd) we can?t put it (in the market). If they want 9.5 it?s there.?

Like Saudi Arabia, OPEC president Kuwait is above its quota. Asked if the Gulf state would produce to the limit, Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah told reporters: ?Yes, and over. We are trying to do maximum production.? Others struggle to meet their output allocation, however, leaving the total oil flow just 200,000 bpd above the ceiling. That is a drop in the ocean for the 84 million bpd global oil market, but analysts saw Monday?s deal as a statement of intent.

?My view of this is that it was a very bullish statement,? said oil consultant John Hall. ?It gets the message out to the world that they?re going to take charge. They?re very focused.? Statements by some ministers on Monday suggested a meaningful cut in production was just around the corner. OPEC will next meet on January 31, just seven weeks time.

Strong buying from the United States, China and India has fueled a two-year rally that has seen a doubling in the oil price. A shortage of refineries to churn out gasoline, diesel and heating oil has added impetus and oil hit $ 70.85 in August. While the refining crunch is beyond OPEC?s control, the cartel has done what it could to tame runaway prices. Since March, Saudi Arabia along with its Gulf colleagues has opened the taps to help quench booming demand.