Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which together account for a third of OPEC's output, said members are doing enough to expand oil production capacity even as four states in the exporters group -- Iran, Venezuela, Nigeria and Indonesia -- have failed to meet their quotas since January. Crude oil in New York closed at $72.04 a barrel on Friday.
Iran, OPEC's second-largest oil producer, has seen its production capacity decline over the last 30 years from a peak of 6 million barrels a day in the mid-1970s to about 4 million today. Venezuela, OPEC's third largest oil producer, and Indonesia have seen their output capacities decline 20 percent this decade.
Saudi Oil minister Ali al-Naimi said oil producers should study future demand forecasts before boosting output capacity beyond what's already planned. "Global growth may not continue at this level for many years,'' he said in a speech today at an oil conference in Amman, Jordan.
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