Crude prices fell Wednesday after OPEC ministers agreed to pump an extra half-million barrels of oil a day beginning April 1 and suggested they could boost production again if needed, the Associated Press reported. Light, sweet crude for April delivery fell 44 cents to US$54.61 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by late morning in Europe. Heating oil prices fell more than a cent to US$1.5375 a gallon (3.8 liters). Brent crude fell 45 cents to US$53.40 on London's International Petroleum Exchange. OPEC's move appeared in line with a proposal Tuesday by the group's president, Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheik Ahmed Fahd Al Ahmed Al Sabah. He suggested that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agree to a rise in output of 500,000 barrels a day and follow it some time in the future, if necessary, with another hike of the same amount.
