OPEC has said it could cover any stoppage of Iraqi oil during war without the need forconsumer countries to release emergency reserves.
"OPEC has been managing the case of Iraq for more than 10years. We will try to alleviate the situation in the normal way and meet our commitment to stabilise the market," cartel secretary-general Alvaro Silva said.
Mr Silva said the producer group was already pumping beyondofficial output limits but could not stop speculators driving oil prices higher.
Speaking as US oil prices set a post-Gulf war high of$38.66 a barrel, he said: "This is not a problem of oil in the market, it is a problem of speculation".
Mr Silva said OPEC had another four million barrels a day of spare supply ready to call on, easily enough to cover Baghdad's 1.7 million bpd.
OPEC is hoping it has convinced the Paris-basedInternational Energy Agency, which controls the reserves, that a repeat of its 1991 Gulf War emergency release will not berequired.
OPEC meets on March 11th and is expected to leave officialsupply quotas unchanged.