Security officers overlook a street from a rooftop of the OPEC headquarters in Vienna.
© AFP/File Joe Klamar

Nicosia, (ANI): With prices around 60 dollars a barrel, the Ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) at their meeting in Vienna on Thursday decided to maintain crude production at existing levels.

The previous two cuts in oil production in the past four months in October and November which are believed to have taken off 1 million barrels a day from the global market helped stabilize the oil market to the desirable price range of 50 -60 dollars a barrel.

Abdalla Salem El-Badri, the Libyan Secretary General of OPEC has told journalists that OPEC believes that the market is stable and healthy and there is “no need to touch it this time”.

Present prices are widely believed to be satisfactory both for oil producing countries and consumers and for this reason there is a balance in the oil market.

It should be noted, however, that prices above 60 dollars a barrel could damage demand in the longer run, by prompting conservation and the use of alternative energy technologies.

According to the International Energy Agency, in February the combined daily production of all OPEC states averaged 30,2 million barrels, which was 400,000 barrels less than OPEC should produce to meet world demand. (ANI)