OPEC to keep output stable

OPEC is preparing to leave oil quotas unchanged and keep pumping near full capacity, rejecting a suggested supply cut by host Venezuela, the cartel's leading price hawk.

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) worries that $70-a-barrel crude could backfire on it by slowing global economic growth and fuelling investment in alternative energy.

Edmund Daukoru of Nigeria, the OPEC president, said: "We are not comfortable with prices at such levels because they are not supported by fundamentals and contain within them the seeds of further volatility that ultimately will be to the detriment of all." Producing at its limits, OPEC's leverage in world oil markets is limited.

Refinery bottlenecks, Iran's standoff with the West over its nuclear program, supply disruptions in Iraq and Nigeria and a rush by investors into commodities have fuelled the price of crude.

Reuters