Vienna, January 30:

Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) should leave its production ceiling unchan-ged at a near 25-year high and reassess the situation when the cartel meets again in March, Algeria’s energy minister Chakib Khelil said.

“For this meeting I think we should leave things the way they are,” the minister said as he arrived ahead on a one-day long meeting of the OPEC tomorrow, “We will see in March what is going to happen.”

OPEC, which groups Saudi Arabia, Iran, Venezuela, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Nigeria, Libya, Indonesia, Algeria and Qatar, is due to meet again on March 8. A consensus appears to be growing among the 11-nation group to keep the production ceiling at 28 million barrels per day (bpd) because of high oil prices, fuelled by stability fears over key producers Iran and Nigeria. Tehran, however, has called on OPEC to cut its production ceiling by one million barrels per day.

Kuwaiti energy minister Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Sabah and Indonsesia’s Purnomo Yusgiantoro, however, have decided not to attend Tuesday’s meeting, OPEC’s sectretariat said, without giving a reason. There was also a question mark over whether Iraqi oil minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum would be making an appearance.

However, Venezuelan energy minister Rafael Ram-irez said today he thought OPEC must be ready to cut production. But Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi said there was ‘absolutely’ no reason for OPEC to cut its oil production.

Oil prices high

SINGAPORE: Oil prices rose sharply above $68 a barrel in Asian trade on Monday as Iran stirred turmoil on the eve of an OPEC meeting by calling for a cut in production levels. Key members of the OPEC such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have rejected Iran’s call but the debate sparked market jitters ahead of the oil cartel’s meeting. — AFP