Brown's plea to Opec

Gordon Brown was today making a personal appeal to Opec nations as oil prices continued to surge to record levels.

Aides said the Chancellor was "hitting the phones" in a personal appeal to persuade the 13-strong cartel to increase production.

The pressure from Mr Brown and his United States counterpart John Snow came as pump prices in London topped ?1 a litre for the first time.

Today there appeared no immediate end to drivers' misery as crude oil prices in the US reached a new high of $42.45 (?22.99) a barrel. The surge follows the weekend terror attacks in Saudi Arabia, leaving traders doubtful about the security of supply from the Middle East.

Mr Brown was preparing to use the "downtime" from today's meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels to speak to as many Opec ministers as possible, including the Indonesian president of Opec, Purnomo Tusgiantoro. He planned to leave "nothing to chance", an aide added.

Mr Brown's intervention aims to step up pressure before a meeting of Opec in Beirut tomorrow, when it is expected to agree to step up production. Saudi Arabia has proposed increasing production by at

least 2.5 million barrels a day - breaking Opec's daily ceiling of

23.5 million barrels.

An Opec spokesman said Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates were capable of increasing production substantially "at short notice".

Mr Purnomo cautioned against immediate action to cool prices. Asked if a production increase had been agreed, he replied: "Not yet. Opec must be unanimous in a decision."

There were also warnings that the proposed production rise may not halt the increase in prices. Oil ministers said the market price was dictated by the "fear factor" surrounding terror attacks in the Middle East, not production levels.

Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said he supported raising production but warned: "A supply increase will not help lower prices." This view was confirmed by oil analyst Geoff Pyne who said: "Opec only has limited scope to do anything about the price. There is no real shortage of supply so the best they can hope for is to have some psychological impact."

Any cooling in prices would be a relief to Mr Brown, who is under pressure to scrap his planned increase in petrol tax, due in September.

In London, Brent crude slipped 38 cents to $38.70 per barrel after leaping yesterday by $1.50.