The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes also raised to 114.63 dollars a barrel on Thursday, Aug.21, compared with $114.07 the day before, according to OPEC Secretariat.

The new OPEC Reference Basket (ORB), implemented as of 10 September 2007, is currently made up of Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Minas (Indonesia), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and BCF 17 (Venezuela).

Optec's daily basket price is also always published with a 24-hour delay and serves as the reference price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

OPEC accounts for about 40 percent of the world's oil production and currently its member states produce an average of 32 Mln bpd.