week lows hit early in the week. The OPEC cartel has said it is doing all it can to control prices, which are being driven by soaring world demand and Middle East political instability. A Reuters survey showed that cartel members, already pumping near 25-year highs, raised supply again in August as higher output from Saudi Arabia countered disruption from sabotage attacks in Iraq, Total August output from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries rose 100,000 bpd to 29.6 million bpd, the survey of consultants, shippers, industry and OPEC sources showed. A senior OPEC official based in the Middle East said on Wednesday the cartel's ministerial meeting on Sept 15 might raise its formal oil output ceiling closer to its actual supply. --SP 1917 Local Time 1617 GMT
