OPEC agrees on 500,000-barrel-a-day increase in crude oil production starting in November

9/11/2007

VIENNA, Austria - OPEC agreed late Tuesday to boost its crude output by 500,000 barrels a day starting Nov. 1, in an effort to calm markets worried that supplies could grow tight by the end of the year.

Omar Farouk Ibrahim, spokesman for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, said the increase would be based on the group's current production meaning the 12-nation cartel was adding actual oil to the market.

Ibrahim said OPEC agreed to "vigilantly monitor" fluctuations in the volatile global crude market.

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