No need for OPEC oil production rise: Iraq oil minister

Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said on Monday he saw "absolutely no need" for OPEC to decide to raise oil production at its upcoming meeting in September.

Shahristani told Reuters in Istanbul that signs of global economic recovery would probably lead to increased oil demand in the near future, but at the same time crude reserves were higher now than they had been in the previous five years.

"We see absolutely no need for OPEC states to decide to raise production at the next meeting," Shahristani said on the sidelines of a meeting between Iraqi officials and executives from the oil industry. "In order to have a balance between supply and demand, we in OPEC don't want to drown the global market with crude that no one is buying."

Shahristani, who came to Turkey to showcase Iraq's plans for a second round of oil contract tenders following a less-than-stellar first round in June, said oil production was still higher than global demand.

OPEC meets on Sept. 9. The group had pledged over the past year to curb output by 4.2 million barrels per day to match the sharpest fall in demand since 1981.