Top OPEC oil producer Saudi Arabia plans to increase oil output by 200,000 barrels per day to help ease soaring crude prices, a statement posted on its London embassy website said.

The statement did not specify when the additional production would begin and was later withdrawn without any official comments.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest exporter of crude oil, had earlier said it planned to raise oil output to 9.65 million barrels per day shortly, and to nearly 10 million barrels per day over the next few years.

The announcements came ahead a planned high-level meeting between producers and consumers due tomorrow, in the Saudi capital of Jeddah, to discuss ways of curtailing soaring oil prices.

A formal announcement is likely on 22 June, after the producer-consumer meet set for Sunday.

King Abdullah will open the international energy conference in Jeddah on 22 June. As many as 38 countries, four international organisations and 30 oil companies are expected to attend the conference.

Saudi Arabia, which is earning over $1billion a day from oil sales, had already raised oil output by 300,000 bpd last month following a visit by US President George W. Bush.
 
State-owned Saudi Aramco said last week that it would start pumping oil from its 500,000 barrel-a-day Khursaniyah field within a month. Aramco also said it was ready to use its spare capacity, which included 1 million barrels of Arab Light crude, to meet market demand.

OPEC president Chakib Khelil last week had ruled out the possibility of the group raising output to curb prices, saying that supply is ``more than enough''. Iran, Venezuela and Libya also oppose a hike in output.

While crude oil rose to a historic high of $139.89 early this week, oil producers blame it on speculative demand and a weak dollar.