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Kuwait will support Opec consensus on output rise

KUWAIT: Kuwait's influential foreign minister was quoted on Sunday as saying his country would support any consensus within Opec to raise the group's output.

Kuwait was also not eager to see oil prices at $30-35 a barrel, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah told al-Watan newspaper. "It is not in Kuwait's interest for the price of the barrel to reach between $30 and $35," said Sheikh Sabah, who is also first deputy prime minister and heads the country's highest oil policy decision-making body -- the Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC). The minister told the daily: "I do not think that the issue of increasing output is of interest to Kuwait. But if Opec states wanted an increase, then Kuwait is with that decision.

"Everything (within Opec) is conducted by voting, and in case of lack of consensus on an increase and obstacles facing it, then Kuwait wants its benefit without harming the interests of others," Sheikh Sabah added.

Kuwait had long supported extending the duration of the global oil output cuts accord which expires end-March but in February it started giving indications that it could support an output rise after world oil prices crossed above $30 a barrel.

The Opec member currently has a quota of 1.836 million barrels per day (BPD) with a production capacity of about 2.5 million bpd.-Reuters