Bodman to push OPEC for more oil

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said on Wednesday he wants OPEC to pump more oil as crude prices hover near record levels and he will push that message to the group's ministers ahead of their meeting next month.

"We're continuing to struggle with higher prices -- prices higher than either they or we would like -- so I think it's time for them to look at it," Bodman said to reporters. "That's all. I've encouraged them to do that."

Bodman said he plans to speak with ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries before their September 11 meeting in Vienna and relay the Bush administration's position that more of the producer group's oil is needed in the market.

"I expect I will be talking with oil ministers," Bodman told reporters later in a conference call. He said he was not sure if would speak with Saudi Arabia's oil minister. "It depends on what everybody's schedule is."

Crude oil futures contracts struck a record $78.77 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange last week due to fears of tight world supply, and have fallen to around $72 a barrel since then.

"We're still dealing with prices that are substantially higher than I'd like to see them," Bodman said.

His comments came after new government data showed U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories dropped sharply last week by 4.1 million barrels and 1.7 million barrels, respectively.

Separately, Bodman said the Energy Department may try again this fall to purchase crude oil to fill the nation's emergency petroleum stockpile.

"That's correct," Bodman said when asked if purchases could resume in the fall. Bodman did not specify when crude oil purchases would begin for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The Energy Department has about $584 million it raised from selling some 11 million barrels of reserve oil to refineries in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina disrupted supplies.

The department had tried to buy back the oil in the open market, but prices were too high. The department then suspended any purchases until after the U.S. summer driving season, which ends on September 30.