Oil prices lost some ground on Friday as the market cooled off after hitting the historic barrier of $55.20 on Thursday after supply outages.

Short-term outages occurred at a gas unit of BP’s big Texas City plant and a fire at Western Refining Co.’s refinery in El Paso, a significant event before the spring season when the consumption of gasoline naturally rises.

Today the prices were taken back to over $53 at $53.50 a barrel by the announcement of a possibility of a hike in OPEC production, made by Nigeria’s Presidential adviser on Petroleum, Edmund Daukoru. He said the agenda of the cartel’s March meeting will include the issue of whether to raise production or to keep it stable.

The market however has little trust in supply surge, partly because OPEC is already pumping at near-maximum capacity and would only be able to add no more than a million barrels per day to its 29 million barrels, against the global oil consumption totalling 84 bpd. Moreover, traders and consumers are becoming used to higher energy costs that did little to rein in growth in US and China. OPEC signals that the prices in the $40-50 range are perceived as normal, and analysts forecast that a surge above $60 or $70 can be expected.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said yesterday that OPEC is producing enough oil and doesn’t need to boost output.

``Increasing oil prices are nothing to do with OPEC,’’ Chavez told reporters in New Delhi.

Venezuela is trying to use its oil reserves as a tool to discourage US from meddling in its affairs.

``We want to supply oil to the U.S. unless the U.S. government gets a little bit crazy and tries to hurt us,’’ he said. ``If there is aggression, there will be no oil.’’