The price of oil slipped back towards the 30-dollar level when the Mideast crisis factor had less influence on a market that is more concerned with OPEC output levels. A barrel of Brent benchmark North Sea crude fell to 30.54 dollars from 30.85 dollars at the close on Friday. While the volatile situation in the Middle East has held sway over the oil market for much of the autumn, the tentative moves towards a diplomatic resolution of the Palestine-Israel crisis have taken the steam out of crude prices. Instead the focus has reverted to production of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), who last week hiked output by 500,000 barrels per day to bear down on prices. OPEC has been reluctant to open the oil floodgates to bring down prices because it is nervous that after the winter is over there will be too much crude on the market, causing a price crash. The Middle East Economic Survey (MEES) said that the organisation's current output level would be a good deal more than enough to meet demand for both consumption and stock ups until the middle of 2001. Iranian oil minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said over the weekend that Tehran would double its production capacity between now and the year 2020 to hold its own within the OPEC cartel. Bureau Report