OPEC oil gains 1.63 dollars as cartel keeps output steady

The oil price of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries climbed by 1.63 dollars at mid-week, OPEC said Thursday, as markets reacted to the group's decision to maintain its output ceiling, DPA reported.

OPEC's basket price moved to 78.25 dollars per barrel (159 litres) on Wednesday.

At their meeting in Vienna that day, the cartel's 12 oil ministers kept the current production target despite the fact that member countries are pumping above their quotas.

"The message is that recovery is on its way," and that demand will pick up in the second half of the year, said John Hall, an analyst at EnergyQuote in London.

Oil prices were also buoyed by news from the United States that gasoline stocks had gone down more than expected, analysts at JBC Energy said in Vienna.