OPEC Calls Special Meeting on Output

OPEC members’ reluctance to support a Saudi Arabian plan to boost output means the producers will have to go back to the conference table, and rising prices signal doubts that a production rise is imminent. The Saudis’ goal, announced last week, was to send oil back to $25 a barrel from more than $30, before high prices slow demand in consuming nations. Coming just days after OPEC raised output quotas July 1, the plan was met with criticism from other OPEC members, who viewed prices as reasonable and supply as adequate. Yet the Saudis aren’t just the world’s top producers--they have the lion’s share of spare production capacity as well. So the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries called for a special meeting, perhaps next week, to resolve the issue before Saudi Arabia unilaterally boosts output. That would be a crushing blow to a group whose unity in restricting production has tripled prices over the last 2 1/2 years. Crude oil futures rallied $1.15 to $31.47 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.