"A decision to increase production at the next OPEC meeting has no justification because the demand for crude oil in spring will drop by 1.5 million b/d to 2 million b/d and last year OPEC also decreased its production ahead of spring."
Said Mohammadali Khatibi, deputy head of marketing at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). OPEC have a meeting on March 5 in Vienna and the producers' club is more likely to follow past practice and cut production, despite US pressure on OPEC to hike production at their last meeting in February.

"There is no sign that high prices are reducing demand for petrol. Petrol sales have increased by 6.5% since 2000 despite a 43.5% increase in prices."
Said EnergyQuest CEO Graeme Bethune as Australia's crude oil production in 2007 rose for the first time since 2000, according to a report released Monday by local consultancy EnergyQuest. Also, there are no signs that high gasoline prices are slowing demand, despite record prices at the bowser (petrol pump), with sales of the transport fuel growing by 1.6% to 19.4 billion liters.

Updated: February 25, 2008