Opec 'to keep production quotas unchanged'

28/05/2009

The comments made by members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) in recent days suggest that it will seek to keep its production quotas unchanged, Forbes reports.

The journal claims that there has been little talk of further cuts ahead of their meeting in Vienna, with even hawkish members such as the Iranian oil minister Golam Hossen Nozari refusing to talk up a reduction.

Since September 2008, the cartel has enacted production cuts of 4.2 million barrels of oil per day in a bid to address the oversupply of crude and other petroleum products such as heating oil and DERV.

The group hoped that in turn, this would help to lift crude prices - along with heating oil and other distillate prices - out of the slump seen since the onset of the financial crisis.

Now, with crude prices at the highest level seen since November, it appears many Opec members are confident they have done enough.