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OPEC conference decides to keep output limit

Oil&Gas Materials 17 March 2010 17:03 (UTC +04:00)
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided Wednesday to keep their current production ceiling, Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil told the German Press Agency dpa in Vienna.
OPEC conference decides to keep output limit

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided Wednesday to keep their current production ceiling, Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil told the German Press Agency dpa in Vienna.

The production limit of of 24.85 million barrels per day (bpd) had stabilized oil prices amid the global financial and economic crisis, said Ecuador's Oil Minister Germanico Alfredo Pinto Troya, the chair of the conference.

OPEC's basket price has floated between 70 and 80 dollars per barrel for the last 5 months.

Troya's Iraqi counterpart Hussain al-Shahristani predicted that the cartel's production target would not change this year.

The decision at OPEC's regular spring conference came after the group issued a report last week showing that member countries are pumping some 2 million bpd more than they agreed to in late 2008. One barrel equals 159 litres.

Delegates acknowledged that oil stocks would keep rising. "But we expect in the third and fourth quarter that demand will increase," Khelil said.

However, some cartel members showed more concern about the supply situation.

"It's bad for all, because the prices will go down," another Ecuadorian delegate said about the lack of discipline among cartel members.

The group has not changed its output limit since December 2008, when it decided to throttle production by 4.2 million bpd to support prices amid the global economic and financial crisis. Iraq is the only OPEC member not bound by a quota.

Crude oil traded in New York moved up some 0.30 cents to 82.43 dollars on Wednesday afternoon European time, buoyed by news from the US on Tuesday that oil stocks had increased less than expected and that gasoline sales are picking up.

OPEC's basket price rose by 0.38 dollars to 76.62 dollars on Tuesday, the latest price quote available.

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