Opec hints at output hike, but not for another month

Oil prices levelled off yesterday, hovering just shy of its record high US$89 a barrel as one Opec minister raised the prospect of another output hike and US data showed rising inventories and weak demand.

Oil's surge to near its peak in 1980 has rung alarm bells for both consumers and producers. Nigeria's oil minister Odein Ajumogobia said Opec could opt to take action when heads of state meet in Saudi Arabia on November 17.