CAIRO: Arab oil ministers of OPEC said on Friday that the cartel should keep production unchanged when it meets later this month as crude prices are close to the target of 80 dollars a barrel.

"Why should we raise output?" the oil minister of OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia, Ali al-Naimi, asked on arrival in the Egyptian capital for a conference of the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) from Saturday.

"We still have time (for the meeting). But right now, the price is ok, between 70 and 80 (dollars). It's close to the target that we set at 75 dollars a barrel," Naimi told reporters.

The oil ministers of Algeria, Libya and Qatar also supported a rollover of oil output when OPEC ministers meet on December 22 in Luanda, Angola, although they said the market was over-supplied.

"OPEC should probably not change production," at the Luanda meeting, said Algerian Oil Minister Chakib Khelil, but he added that crude prices were slightly low.

Oil "prices are a bit low. We don't have a target, but it's low. It is still better than last year this time," Khelil said.

Last year, prices slumped to just above 30 dollars a barrel due to the impact of the global financial meltdown, before recovering to between 70-80 dollars at present.

Oil prices rallied on Friday following news of shrinking unemployment in the United States, the world's top energy-consuming nation.

Brent North Sea crude for delivery in January jumped 1.12 dollars to 79.48 dollars a barrel in late London trading. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery rose 1.15 dollars to 77.61 dollars a barrel.

Qatari Energy Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah agreed that OPEC should maintain its production levels, while Libyan Oil Minister Shukri Ghanem said that "we should not do anything in Angola" regarding output quotas.

OPEC president Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos of Angola said in November that a price of between 75 and 80 dollars a barrel would be satisfactory.

Khelil, however, said that "there is too much oil" in the market and warned that if the global economy does not recover fully, it could have an adverse impact on oil prices.

In December 2008, OPEC members, excluding Iraq, cut their total production quota to 24.84 million barrels per day, but industry reports show that their current output is more than two million bpd higher.

The Luanda meeting is expected to discuss the impact of global economic recovery on oil demand for next year and its influence on oil prices.

The Algerian minister said that demand for oil will be impacted by the incomplete recovery in the global economy.

"Demand for oil is already coming from China and Asia. But I think what is important is the recovery from the United States because unless the US recovers, then we have a problem with oil demand," he said.

"If there is no recovery, there will be a reversal of the situation" for oil prices, he added.