DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--The United Arab Emirates, the fourth-largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, will be ready to pump more crude if demand increases, an official said Thursday.
"The U.A.E. is ready to supply the market with more oil if needed," Ali Obaid Al Yabhouni, the emirates' OPEC governor told reporters in Dubai. "But our markets are satisfied and they have not asked for more."
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in July traded at $130.37 a barrel at 0645 GMT, losing 66 cents in the Globex electronic session.
OPEC nations are coming under relentless pressure from consumers in Europe and the U.S. where there is rising concern that high fuel costs may lead to a steep economic downturn.
Al Yabhouni added "these current prices are moving too fast, too high." The U.A.E. pumps about 2.6 million barrels a day of crude and ranks behind Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela in OPEC's output hierarchy.
The International Energy Agency predicts world oil demand will increase by 1 million barrels a day to 86.8 million barrels a day this year as oil use grows in emerging economies such as China.
In the U.S., the world's largest oil consumer, demand has been wilting amid record high prices and a faltering economy. The Energy Information Administration on Wednesday reported U.S. oil demand fell by 4.3%, or nearly 900,000 barrels a day, in the first quarter, to 19.9 million barrels a day. That's the lowest level of consumption for any quarter since mid-2003.
Hasan Qabazard, head of research at OPEC, which pumps about 40% of the world's oil, said Thursday that oil stocks had gained in the second-quarter.
Qabazard, who advises OPEC's 13 ministerial delegations, told reporters in Dubai that he expects stocks to build "even higher" this year dampening expectations that the cartel may cave into political pressure and hold an impromptu emergency meeting ahead of its next scheduled gathering in September.
