By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, May 28 -- Oil ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries fulfilled expectations in their extraordinary meeting in Vienna May 28 by leaving production quotas unchanged.
The combined production ceiling for the 11 members with quotas remains 24.85 million b/d. Iraq has no production limit.
Noting that quota cuts totaling 4.2 million b/d from September 2008 levels had restored "some degree of stability to oil prices," the group said crude oil entering the market still exceeds demand. Marker prices of crude oil recently have exceeded $60/bbl, twice their levels of earlier this year but less than half what they were a year ago.
In a statement after the meeting, OPEC pointed to recent signs that the global economic recession might end by yearend but said, "The world is nevertheless still faced with weak industrial production, shrinking world trade, and high unemployment."
According to the International Energy Agency, OPEC's compliance with production targets reached an unprecedented 83% in March but slipped to 78% in April, when total output by the members with quotas climbed to 25.8 million b/d.