OPEC May Raise Oil Supply to Meet Demand, Naimi Says

OPEC members may boost oil supply this year as demand for crude rises amid a recovery in economic growth rates to near levels last seen before the global financial crisis, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister said.

Worldwide oil demand may increase as much as 1.8 million barrels a day in 2011, or 2 percent from last year, Ali al-Naimi said in a speech in Riyadh today. Saudi Arabia, the largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, will have spare production capacity of about 4 million barrels a day, he said.