OPEC decided to keep production quotas unchanged at today's meeting in Vienna, banking on a recovery in oil demand toward the end of the year, Bloomberg reported.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, responsible for 40 percent of global crude supply, agreed to maintain production quotas, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said. It's the second time this year the 12-member group has met without revising that total.
OPEC's resolve not to cut further comes even as U.S. inventories reached their highest level in two decades earlier this month and after a forecast from the International Energy Agency that global demand is falling the most since 1981.
Crude oil for July delivery traded up 1 cents at $63.46 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 11:20 a.m. London time. Prices have gained 36 percent since the group's last meeting in March.
OPEC's choice not to cut further may have been influenced by its failure to complete previous reductions that came into effect at the start of the year.
The 11 nations bound by quotas, which exclude Iraq, pumped 25.81 million barrels a day in April, an increase of about 225,000 from March and the first increase in nine months, according to OPEC's latest monthly report. The countries have a total target of 24.845 million barrels. That means the group has completed 77 percent of its cuts, down from a revised 82 percent for March.
The outcome of today's gathering is in keeping with a Bloomberg survey, in which 25 of 27 analysts said they expected existing quotas to be upheld.
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