Tehran: Oil-exporting nations don't need to alter their production, and crude prices are at satisfactory levels, Iran's oil minister and the chief executive officer of Kuwait's national oil company said.
Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasimi met with Opec Secretary General Abdullah Al Badri on Monday in Tehran, where they discussed the need for a consensus over output decisions before the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries holds its next meeting on December 14 in Vienna.
Al Badri said he hoped that with "necessary discussions, agreement can be reached between Opec members to keep the production level unchanged," the Iranian ministry's Shana news website reported yesterday. Opec pumps 40 per cent of the world's crude, and Iran is its second-biggest producer.
Brent crude oil prices have traded between $100 and $115 a barrel in London for most of the past three months as total Opec supply gradually rose. Gains in output last month from Libya and Angola outpaced supply cuts by Saudi Arabia, pushing production from all 12 Opec members to 30.14 million barrels a day, the highest level since November 2008, according to a Bloomberg News survey published on Monday.
"At the moment, there is no need to cut production to control prices," which are currently "comfortable" and "suitable," Kuwait Petroleum Corp. Chief Executive Officer Farouk Al Zanki said.
"There's a balance between supply and demand," he told reporters in Kuwait City. "Inventories have gone down a bit, which will strengthen prices."
Kuwaiti Oil Minister Mohammad Al Busairy said that "the market needs about 1.5 million barrels a day more until the end of this year, or until the beginning of next year."
