OPEC REFUSES TO ORDER OIL PRODUCTION INCREASE


LONDON [MENL] -- OPEC oil ministers have decided to maintain the current level of oil production despite Iraq's halt in exports.

Ministers who met in Vienna on Tuesday agreed that the oil market has enough supplies to weather any Iraqi cutoff. The decision maintains OPEC's daily output at 24.2 million barrels a day.

The organization will review the global market when its 10 members are scheduled to convene next on July 3. The OPEC decision hardly caused a ripple in the oil market, where crude is selling for about $29 a barrel.

"By then the picture will be more clear and we can see how the market will react,'' Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah Al Attiyah said."OPEC and the market need time to assess if Iraq's decision will cause a crisis."

On Tuesday, UN officials confirmed that Iraq has stopped loading oil on tankers in the nation's southern port. Iraq has produced 2.2 million barrels of oil a day.

Energy analysts and some OPEC officials agreed that should Iraq's halt in exports last a month a more, the market would be struck by a shortage of oil.

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KUWAIT AGAIN SUPPORTS PALESTINIAN SUICIDE ATTACKS


ABU DHABI [MENL] -- Kuwait has again expressed support for Palestinian suicide bombings in a move that has annoyed the United States.

It was the second time in a week that the sheikdom has deemed Palestinian suicide attacks as a legitimate means in the battle against Israel.

Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sabah Al Ahmed martyrdom is a legitimate act and again supported the Palestinian suicide bombing on Friday in which 20 Israelis were killed outside a Tel Aviv discotheque. Al Ahmed's statement was the only message of support expressed by a U.S. ally.

Sabah termed the Tel Aviv attack as both"legal and heroic." The acting prime minister and foreign minister said on Tuesday that the sheikdom's support was not in response from the Hamas, which claimed responsibility for the attack and receives millions of dollars from the Kuwaiti royal family.

"We were not asked [to say this] and I will not accept such a request from anyone," Sabah said."I do believe in this and I was not asked to say so or pressured by anybody."

Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said he rejected Kuwait's support for suicide bombings. U.S. officials said Washington would probably raise the issue with the Gulf Arab state.



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