RTRS:OPEC divided as Saudi pushes for oil increase
y Emma Farge and Daniel Fineren
VIENNA, June 8 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia faced stiff resistance on Wednesday from OPEC producers opposed to an increase in oil supplies that help ease crude prices.
Under pressure from consumer countries to contain fuel inflation, Saudi Arabia hopes to push the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to lift its production target by 1.5 million barrels a day at a meeting today, Gulf delegates said.
Riyadh has support from its Gulf Arab allies Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates to meet rising demand in the second half of the year.
"There is a need for more supply in the market," Kuwait's Oil Minister Mohammad al-Busairi told Reuters. "I expect demand to be strong in the third and fourth quarter."
As OPEC's biggest producer and the only one with any significant spare capacity, Saudi usually gets its way.
But four countries -- long-time price hawks Iran and Venezuela plus Ecuador and Iraq -- have said publicly they see no need to increase output. All want to keep oil prices above $100 a barrel. Brent crude traded at $116 a barrel on Wednesday.
"We do not agree with production being increased now, we must continue to consolidate balance in the market and we have to defend fair prices," Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday in Ecuador.
