[originaltext] Caracas (dpa)-The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countrie

Caracas (dpa)-The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is not ruling out further increases in production to stabilize world oil prices, OPEC President Ali Rodriguez said Tuesday, the same day OPEC’s fourth production hike this year went into effect.
   We will put as many barrels on the market as necessary, Rodriguez said in Caracas, where he also serves as Venezuela’s energy minister.
   He added that OPEC foresees a fifth production increase of 500, 000 barrels per day as sufficient to lower prices, despite the approaching winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
   OPEC increased its production, beginning Tuesday, by 2 per cent, or 500, 000 barrels per day. Its goal is to lower oil prices by 2 to 8 dollars per barrel. They currently stand at about 30 dollars per 159-litre barrel.
   OPEC, which produces nearly 40 per cent of the world’s oil, has the ability to effect oil prices by increasing or reducing its production. Analysts said, however, that the latest and any other production increases will have little impact because all of OPEC’s 11 members, except for Saudi Arabia, are already pumping all the oil they can.
   On Tuesday, Rodriguez said the United States move to release up to 30 million barrels from its emergency oil reserves onto world markets is also sending oil prices down. He added that the United States has agreed to attend a November summit between oil-producing and -consuming nations in Saudi Arabia.
   "This is the very first time that the United States will be represented by ministers at such a summit, and that is very significant, " Rodriguez said.