The oil cartel OPEC has decided to maintain current production levels after the 12 members met in Vienna recently for its 153rd (extraordinary) meeting.
The cartel acknowledged that global demand was still low and that this would continue for the foreseeable future.
“Although some recent positive economic indicators point towards the possibility of the recession bottoming-out before year-end, the world is nevertheless still faced with weak industrial production, shrinking world trade and high unemployment,” a spokesman said in a statement.
“For this reason, the Conference decided to maintain current production levels unchanged for the time being,” the statement added.
The delegates at the meeting agreed that the production cuts OPEC member states had already made had restored a degree of stability back into oil prices, but also noted that while crude stocks were not at the record levels of two months ago, they still remained high.
“It was considered inadvisable to ignore the impact of the fall in crude oil prices witnessed over the preceding 12 months, coupled with the abiding price volatility, on the ability of oil producers to continue to make the investments required to guarantee adequate energy supplies in the medium-to-long term, given the cost of adding new capacity.” The statement said.
The oil price currently stands at around US$66 a barrel.
