January 04, 2008	Friday	Zilhaj 24, 1428

PARIS, Jan 3: The oil producing cartel Opec will face enormous pressure to help calm the febrile crude market at its next meeting in February after prices struck the symbolic 100-dollar level, analysts said on Thursday.

“It (the 100-dollar record) will be a psychological trigger for consumer countries,” said global head of commodities at investment bank Societe Generale Frederic Lasserre.

“We will see governments putting pressure on Opec, saying ‘we need you to do something for us’. In the end though, they (governments) probably share the view that adding a few barrels will not change the market.”

The 13-member Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries shrugged off demands at its last meeting in December, despite a public plea from US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman for an output increase.

The Saudi-led cartel pumps about 40 per cent of world oil supplies but restricts the output of its members through a quota system that is reviewed at regular meetings.

London-based analyst John Hall, who runs his own oil consultancy, John Hall Associates, sees Opec bowing to pressure and making a gesture at the extraordinary meeting in Vienna on February 1.

“I was convinced that they were going to increase output in December. I’m confident they are going to do it this coming month,” he said.

Opec, which declined to make anyone available for interview when contacted by AFP, insists that prices are being driven by speculative buying and that increasing supplies would not have an impact on the market.—AFP