Only Kuwait, the UAE and Saudi Arabia have the production capacity to meet the additional demand, he told the state news agency KUNA.

“As long as we have the capacity and the market is in need, we will move in this direction,” Al-Busairi told KUNA.

His remarks came as OPEC delegates said Gulf oil exporters are unlikely to cut production in response to the International Energy Agency (IEA) releasing emergency stocks because demand for their crude is strong.

OPEC failed in early June to agree an increase in output which Gulf producers and big consumers represented by the IEA hoped would dampen prices and boost growth.

Although Saudi Arabia pledged to deliver any oil needed after OPEC talks collapsed on June 8, the IEA said recently it would release 60 million barrels from reserves to further bolster supplies over the next month.

But the move by mainly western IEA member nations to compensate for the loss of light Libyan crude because of ongoing unrest in the North African country is unlikely to dampen demand for heavier Gulf crudes.

“The Gulf countries supply around 80 percent of their oil to Asia and demand is growing there, so I don’t see any sign for Gulf countries to cut their production,” a Gulf OPEC delegate said.

“Besides, the IEA stocks are all sweet crude and what the Gulf countries produce are mainly heavier grades, so I don’t see why there should be drop in output.”

A second OPEC delegate said crude producers in the Gulf were closely monitoring demand for oil in Asia and would adjust their output to meet it.

“If we get more orders we will produce more, that will determine production not the IEA stocks,” said the delegate.

Last week, Gulf delegates said the IEA’s action was unjustifiable as stock levels are high and oil prices well below record highs.

Iranian Oil Ministry caretaker Mohammad Aliabadi, meanwhile, said Tehran sees no need to supply the oil market with extra crude, adding he was concerned about the principle of consumer nations’ releasing strategic reserves.

“The market is under normal conditions. Supply and demand are desirable. There is no additional need for supply in the market,” he said in Vienna before an OPEC meeting with European Union officials for their annual exchange on energy issues.

In a reference to consumer countries’ move to release reserves to the market, he wondered why they were not sticking to their own free-market beliefs.

“The question we have now is why are the consuming countries that have their own principles they believe they have to abide by, why aren’t they abiding by those principles and instead are intervening in market fundamentals and putting pressure on the situation?”

Asked if he was worried about the impact of the release on oil prices, he said through an interpreter: “No, we are worried about the principles of how they are to be implemented.

“Why they are not abiding by those principles is really a big question for us. We believe that prices should be set by the market itself.”

Industrialized consumer nations on Thursday announced the release of 60 million barrels of oil from strategic government stockpiles in a bid to push down crude prices and underpin the global economy.