( AP )- OPEC ministers arriving in Vienna on Monday for an output policy meeting dismissed calls for more oil despite new record prices for crude of more than 100 dollars per barrel.
OPEC's president, Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil, said the 13-member cartel, which produces 40 percent of world oil, would not consider an output hike at its official meeting on Wednesday.
Khelil, a traditional price hawk, even mentioned the possibility of an production cut, which hardline producers Venezuela and Iran are calling for.
"I don't think OPEC will consider an increase of production because then we would be increasing to meet a demand that doesn't increase," said Khelil in Vienna.
"The conference will study whether to maintain or reduce production, he added.
The only country capable of pushing through an increase in production to appease consuming countries would be kingpin Saudi Arabia, whose oil minister, Ali al-Nuaimi, was set to arrive later Monday.
Earlier in the day, Libya's acting oil minister Chukri Ghanem said that OPEC was concerned about the health of the world economy but was unlikely to change its production policy.
High oil prices are buffeting the world economy at a time when the US economy looks set to lurch into recession, with uncertain ramifications for the rest of the world.
"We are concerned about the world economy, about supply and demand," said Ghanem, who is the head of the Libyan national oil company and is acting as oil minister.
"(But) I don't think we need to do anything for the time being," he replied when asked if OPEC would reconsider its production ceiling of 29.67 million barrels per day, excluding output by Iraq.
Qatar's Energy Minister Abdallah al-Attiyah echoed Ghanem, saying: "I'm confident that the market is well supplied."
Speaking over the telephone to AFP from Vienna, he said stocks of crude oil were at their highest level in seven weeks, adding: "We are now in the second quarter. There is not a big need for oil."
Kuwait's acting oil minister Mohammad al-Olaim also said Monday that OPEC was unlikely to raise crude output at its ministerial at the organisation's headquarters in Vienna.
"Based on what we see now, and before looking at final data and analyses, there are no indications of OPEC hiking its production," Olaim was quoted as saying by the official KUNA news agency before leaving for the Austrian capital.
Oil prices roared higher on Monday to strike a record high 103.95 dollars per barrel as traders reacted to the plunging US dollar and the comments from the OPEC ministers.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, hit the historic peak as the dollar dived to a fresh record low against the European single currency.
London's Brent North Sea crude for April delivery, meanwhile, smashed through 102 dollars per barrel for the first ever time to reach a record 102.29 dollars per barrel.
A falling dollar, which slumped to a record low against the euro on Monday, boosts demand for dollar-denominated commodities such as oil because it makes them cheaper for buyers using other currencies.
"The weakness of the dollar continues to provide upward support for (oil) prices," said Barclays Capital analyst Kevin Norrish.
"OPEC members hinting at no production increase at their next meeting also provided support to prices."