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OPEC official: Oil companies should use profits to invest in refineries | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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RIMINI, Italy- A top OPEC official said Sunday that oil companies with surging third-quarter profits should use the money to increase their refining capacity and help ease pressure on oil prices, AP reported.

&#34This is a chance for them to invest,&#34 said Adnan Shihab-Eldin, acting secretary general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

&#34We believe that they should definitely make an effort to invest in the downstream in trying to resolve the bottlenecks,&#34 caused by rapidly expanding demand, Shihab-Eldin said during a conference here on long-term issues of energy supply.

Several major oil companies reported third-quarter profits this week.

&#34We”ve been saying this past year that refining has to increase,&#34 Shihab-Eldin said. &#34There needs to be more refining and upgrading.&#34

Concerns about refining capacity, heightened by the devastation wrought in the U.S. by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, have recently kept the price of oil above US$60 a barrel.