Reply #4: Oil prices near $94 a barrel

[ozymandius]

SINGAPORE - Crude oil futures fell further Wednesday amid a widening belief that OPEC will consider increasing production to ease record prices.

The president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said the group stands ready to put more oil into the market although it had no plans to do so yet.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery dropped 38 cents to $94.04 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midafternoon in Singapore.

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On Tuesday, Dow Jones Newswires, citing an unidentified OPEC official, reported that the 12-member group, which meets Dec. 5 in Abu Dhabi, is mulling an increase of 750,000 barrels a day. Al Hamli, who was speaking on the sidelines of an energy conference in Singapore, refused to comment on the report.

In recent days, several OPEC ministers have said their nations are ready to boost oil output to bring down high oil prices, which have approached $100 a barrel for several weeks. A number of reports suggest several OPEC countries are already exceeding their output quotas.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/oil_prices