VYSOTSK. June 16 (Interfax) - Russia does not plan to increase oil production at the request of OPEC, Federal Energy Agency Director Sergei Oganesian told Interfax.
"We are working according to our own plan. We do not have valves that we can open or close. We are producing as much as we can," he said.
OPEC plans to propose to countries not in the cartel, including Russia and Mexico, to increase production to reduce world prices, OPEC President Purnomo Yusgiantoro told journalists in Jakarta.
He said that he plans to write letters to countries not in OPEC and that he hopes that they will have the reserve capacity to do this, he said.
He also said that OPEC would propose to Angola, Oman and other countries to increase production.
During the 131st extraordinary OPEC conference on June 3, 2003, the cartel's oil ministers decided to immediately increase oil production by 2 million barrels (8.5%) to 25.5 million barrels per day, and by another 500,000 barrels in August this year.
In so doing OPEC agreed the largest increase in production quotas in the past six years.
Iranian Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar-Zanganeh said that OPEC members might postpone the additional increase in production by 500,000 bpd if this increase is not needed. They will reach a decision on this at their next meeting.
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