Dubai: The United Arab Emirates has said that the members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) were ready to increase their oil production output to meet the rising demand in Asia.

The cartel members from the GCC countries were also prepared to provide additional supplies, UAE Energy Minister Mohammed bin Dhaen Al Hameli, who is the current OPEC President, said.

"There is no need to be skeptic about this. We are prepared to raise production when asked, and as we always did," he said speaking at the Middle East Asia Energy Summit, currently held in Singapore, the Emirates news agency said today.

Reassuring the willingness of Gulf countries to secure adequate supply of oil, Al Hamili noted the recent Riyadh Declaration of the third OPEC summit and said: "The Gulf countries and other OPEC members are not only able, but they are ready, willing and are doing it".

Al Hamili focused on the inter-relationship between secure demand and secure supply and said: "OPEC has maintained a secure, stable and study supply of oil since it was founded in 1960 and will continue to do so in the future. However, we need to complete the circle. It is not just about oil supplies; it is also about oil demand".

The theme of the summit is Asia s growing oil thirst: Will the Middle East be able to quench it? . "There appears to be some doubt about the Gulf producers willingness to raise their production to levels that will satisfy the growing demand from Asia. There should not be. Speaking for my own country, the UAE as well as OPEC in general, we are prepared to raise our production to supply oil, when and where required, as we have always done."

Source : PTI