The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will provide markets with an extra two million barrels per day (bpd) from October 1 if there is demand for the crude, the cartel said in a statement at the end of a two-day meeting here.

OPEC would maintain its official production quota at 28 million bpd, a spokesman told reporters.

But the announcement was overshadowed by Hurricane Rita, which barreled toward a vulnerable chain of islands in southernmost Florida on a track that would take it over the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico.

Rita came three weeks after Hurricane Katrina swamped New Orleans, leaving it a ghost city and devastating US oil production and refining facilities along the Gulf coast.

On Tuesday, wary markets paid more attention to the storm than to OPEC, which wanted to show consumer countries it was pulling out all the stops to ensure an adequate supply of crude oil.

OPEC president Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Sabah told the press conference here: "What we are trying to do is offer our capacity, full capacity to the market."

In Brussels, EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs hailed OPEC's move, saying it "will reassure consumer countries of the security of their energy supply".

Crude oil prices fell Tuesday in London and New York even though Rita was upgraded to a full hurricane. But London analysts said traders were simply locking in profits following a sharp rise on Monday.

Crude traded for 65.45 dollars in New York and 63.98 dollars in London, but Investec analyst Bruce Evers explained: "The fall in prices has more to do with yesterday's (Monday's) huge moves and it's down to profit taking."

Another London-based analyst, who wished to remain anonymous, said the OPEC decision was "of no consequence".

International Energy Agency (IEA) chief Claude Mandil told AFP in the British capital that OPEC's decision would have a "limited effect" on high oil prices.

Oil importers are concerned above all that in the long run, global demand will outstrip supply, despite OPEC insistence that the real problem is refining capacity and that it has plenty of crude to go around.

As a result, disruptions to production and refining quickly push up prices, and their effect is beginning to be felt worldwide.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) sees high oil prices as the main risk to economic growth this year and next, according to a report due for release on Wednesday but quoted Tuesday by a German government source in Berlin.

"Oil prices are the main risk, one that needs to be taken seriously," he said, referring to the report.

Oil hit a record of 70.85 dollars on August 30 in New York after Hurricane Katrina struck, though prices fell back after IEA members agreed to release 60 million barrels of oil from strategic stocks to compensate for disruptions.

The spike on Monday illustrated that OPEC, which had mooted the two million barrel offer, now has little influence on oil markets, where many analysts questioned if the cartel really had much more crude in stock.

OPEC provides about 40 percent of the world's oil and currently produces about 30.3 million bpd, or close to 28.4 million excluding production from Iraq which is not included in the cartel's current official quota of 28 million.

But rising output by OPEC members over the past two years has not softened the impact of what some call a third "oil shock" following those of 1973 and 1979, and has left the cartel with little spare production capacity, the IMF said in its draft report.

The market also perceives supplies as being very tight, and analysts say there is only a thin supply cushion in case of an unforseen event such as hurricanes or terror attacks.

OPEC however, insisted in its final statement that "continuing shortage of appropriate refining capacity remains one of the main reasons behind recent oil price increases and price volatility."

It urged oil companies and consuming countries to address the issue and several OPEC ministers said their countries were going to build refineries, either at home or in major consumers such as China.

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