OPEC Needs to Raise Oil Output: International Energy Agency (USO)

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries needs to raise oil output in June to avoid further price increases, the head of the International Energy Agency said Wednesday. The price of oil has jumped above $100 as global geopolitical uncertain has risen and demand has risen, particularly in the United States and China. If the price of oil was sustained at $100 a barrel or more for the rest of 2011, the outcome would be similar to the 2008 situation that led to the global economic crisis, IEA Executive Director Nubuo Tanaka said today. "We have already observed slower oil demand growth rates in China, where import growth fell from a 16 percent increase in December to just 9.6 percent in February. Clearly, the speed of growth is declining," Tanaka told Reuters. "Part of it would be monetary tightening but high oil prices also play a big role. The government has been deregulating the gasoline prices each month and certainly, that has eaten up some parts of the demand growth." Oil is trading at $109.57 this morning, higher by more than 1%. The United States Oil

, which reflects the changes in percentage terms of the spot price of light, sweet crude oil, closed higher by $0.07 on Tuesday, to $42.95.