OPEC ministers see no need for supply boost

By Alex Lawler and Marie Maitre

LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) - World oil supply is enough and there is no need for OPEC to boost output to lower near-record prices, the group's president and the oil minister for Qatar said on Tuesday.

The comments are the latest to underscore OPEC's view that factors beyond supply and demand have pushed prices higher. Oil hit a record $111.80 a barrel on March 17 and was trading around $109 on Tuesday.

"Supply is there. Stocks are in pretty good shape. We are entering the period when we see lower demand," Chakib Khelil, who is also Algeria's oil minister, told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in London.

"Nothing has changed to change at least my view of the situation, which is there is really no need for increasing the supply."

The energy minister for Qatar, one of the smallest oil producers in the 13-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), made similar remarks earlier on Tuesday.

"I am confident there is no shortage of oil at all," Abdullah al-Attiyah told journalists on the sidelines of a meeting at the Qatari Embassy in Paris.

"Is there a need for extra production? I don't think so."

OPEC pumps about two in every five barrels of oil. Its view on supply contrasts with that of major consumers, such as the United States.