Rising prices to halt OPEC output cuts

THE Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, supplier of a third of the world’s oil, will probably defer output cuts until later this year because prices are rising and Iraqi exports are delayed, officials and analysts said.

The group meets tomorrow in Doha, Qatar, to consider a response to the impending return of sales from Iraq, which pumped 3% of world supply before the war.

Exports stopped when US and British forces invaded on March 20, and looting since then has hampered efforts to restore production.