Mohammad Ali Khatibi, an energy expert with Institute for International Energy Studies, told Petroenergy Information Network that non-OPEC producers have made heavy investments in their oil production capacity and they are expected to increase their output from 54.9 million barrels per day in 2005 to 56.7 million barrels in 2006. “Therefore, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will be only supplying 100,000 barrels of surplus demand in 2006,” he said. Director of OPEC Research Department of Institute for International Energy Studies further noted that OPEC will also increase its production form 28.4 million barrels per day to 28.5 million barrels a day. “Oil reserves have been expanding over past months and experience shows that whenever reserves increase, prices will start to fall,” he opined. He said oil price hike in recent days would be temporary and due to demand reduction in summertime, demand for oil may fall.