Satisfied with prices, OPEC keeps oil output steady (2nd Lead)

Sep 9, 2009, 23:44 GMT

Vienna - Oil ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced early Thursday in Vienna that they are satisfied with the current price and have left existing output quotas unchanged.

'The price is perfect,' Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told reporters.

Crude oil for October delivery traded above 71 dollars per barrel Wednesday in New York, about double the price of late last year, when crude markets plummeted amid the global financial crisis. OPEC's basket price stood at 67.83 dollars per barrel Tuesday.

One barrel is 159 litres.

'The price is okay, the economy is improving, it seems like we are over the recession,' Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil said.

Even OPEC members like Iran that normally push for production cuts to finance their national economies expressed support to leave quotas where they are.

'Given the fact that demand is depressed and also stocks are at a high level, although there is some sign of improvement in the economic situation, it seems that it would be much better to wait and see how the situation develops,' Iranian Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi said.

So far, the cartel's 12 member countries have implemented only around 70 per cent of cuts totalling 4.2 million barrels per day, which they decided on last year.

OPEC, which produces a third of the world's oil, aims to raise that level.

In July, the group pumped 26.69 million barrels per day, 160,000 barrels more than in June. Most of the increase came from Angolan, Iraqi and Saudi oil fields.

While the cartel is aiming to reduce currently high oil stocks around the world, non-member Russia is increasing its oil exports and has overtaken OPEC member Saudi Arabia as the world's largest oil exporter, Russian newspaper Vremya Novostei reported.