Business digest 03/09/06

OPEC says production will remain steady

VIENNA, Austria -- OPEC said Wednesday it would keep pumping at current levels to ensure adequate supplies as extremists target oil facilities from the Middle East to Nigeria and a confrontation escalates over Iran's suspect nuclear program. The output quota is 28 million barrels a day.

Exxon plans to lift output by 25 percent

NEW YORK -- Exxon Mobil Corp. said Wednesday it will plow an extra $2 billion a year into oil and natural-gas drilling, refining and chemicals manufacturing in order to lift output by 25 percent by the end of the decade.

House panel votes to block ports deal

WASHINGTON -- A House panel dominated by Republicans voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to block a Dubai-owned firm from taking control of some U.S port operations. Democrats clamored for a vote in the Senate, too. By 62-2, the House Appropriations Committee voted to bar DP World, run by the government of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, from holding leases or contracts at U.S. ports. Bush has promised to veto any such measure passed by Congress.

-- From wire reports