OPEC may increase output to dampen prices

OPEC will probably raise its output ceiling this week in an attempt to rein in near-record oil prices, but refining bottlenecks will continue to drive the market and make any potential hike nothing more than a symbolic gesture.

During the meeting of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna tomorrow, the ministers are likely to agree to a 500,000-barrel-a-day increase, but delegates and analysts say that the market is well supplied with crude and the problem lies with refining products.