OPEC will strive to guarantee stability of the international oil market and oil prices will eventually return to normal levels, an OPEC official said Tuesday.  

In a telephone interview with Xinhua, a spokesman of the Secretariat of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) predicted that international oil prices will continue falling and stay below US$50 a barrel. The prices may rebound, but they will be eventually back to normal levels.

He attributed the decline of oil prices to the increase of oil reserves in the United States, the production recovery in the Gulf of Mexico and the lesser impact of a possible strike in oil-rich Nigeria.

On the limited excess production capacity in OPEC member nations, the spokesman said the cartel members still have the capability to increase their output to meet market demand. Three or four members can raise their output immediately.

The 11-member cartel is already pumping out a record high of 30million barrels daily to ensure stability of the global oil markets.

In the past week, international crude prices declined. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil futures sank to US$50 a barrel and OPEC's oil prices went down to US$43.31 a barrel Monday.

Crude oil prices in OPEC plummeted US$0.39 to US$45.51 per barrel last week, the first drop in the past six weeks.

(Xinhua News Agency November 3, 2004)