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The ministers from all 11 countries began informal talks before the start of the meeting in an effort to reach a consensus on the size of the increase. But Libya and Iran are reported to be opposing an increase of one and half a million barrels per day proposed by Saudi Arabia and other group members.
The members differ over how much extra they can afford to pump out without sending the oil price too far down. OPEC Secretary General, Rilwanu Lukman of Nigeria said that “ministers were making good progress” so far.
The U.S. has been calling for an extra 3 million barrels a day. Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s most influential member, appears to favor an increase of 1.5 million barrels per day. But Iran and Libya want to produce only an additional 1 million barrels per day.
OPEC took drastic action last year to raise the price of a barrel of oil from less than $10 to $25 by cutting production by 4.32 million barrels every day. That agreement, raising the price, ends this month.
In the U.S. consumer pressure for lower prices has grown. The cost of oil here is not just an economic issue; it is highly political owing to it being an election year. From less than a dollar a gallon a year ago, gasoline now costs 1.55 a gallon on average across the U.S., and more than $2 in some parts of California.
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