OPEC decided to keep production quotas unchanged following its meeting in Vienna today, group President Wilson Pastor said.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which supplies 40 percent of the world’s oil, is benefiting as prices stay above the $70-to-$80-a-barrel band that Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said is “ideal.” Several ministers said the group will urge members to improve compliance to production limits, which according to the IEA is at 54 percent of quotas.
Crude climbed for a second day, rising as much as 1.3 percent to $84.12 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, extending a 1.6 percent gain yesterday. It was at $83.27 a barrel at 12:06 p.m. London time.
OPEC will meet again on Dec. 11 in Quito, Ecuador, said Pastor, who also is oil minister for that country.