29-04-08

Oil producers outside the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) probably won't be able to increase output and help reduce prices because of higher drilling costs and restrictions on foreign investment.
The failure of Russia, Norway, Mexico and other free-trade oil producers, which provide about 50 mm barrels of oil a day, to boost output means there's little to restrain additional price rises, according to Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency in Paris.

Non-OPEC nations have provided most of the increase in output in the last 30 years from new fields in Alaska, the North Sea and the Caspian Sea region.
A continuing rise in oil consumption has added to the pressure on prices, with global consumption expected to rise by 1.2 mm bpd in 2008 to 87.2 mm bpd as China, India and Middle Eastern nations boost demand, according to the IEA.

Source: www.bloomberg.com