The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) plans to lift production capacity by five-million barrels per day by 2012, the cartel's secretary general Abdalla Salem El-Badri said here on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum here, El-Badri also said that the cartel aimed to boost production capacity by nine-million bpd by 2020.

Opec, which produces 40 percent of the world's oil, comprises Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

Its current output stands at about 32-million barrels per day.

Production costs have risen by 50-60 percent in the last few years as a result of wage inflation and equipment costs.

"That's why oil prices haven't really been a boon to producers," he said.

The increased production costs could set back investment plans by around one year, he said.

At present, the cartel had excess capacity of about three-million barrels per day, El-Badri said.

Opec's President, Algerian minister Chakib Khelil, had put excess capacity at just two-million bpd.

El-Badri said that Opec was currently investing $150-160-million in 120 different projects.

AFP