OPEC to keep oil supply unchanged

OPEC will keep supply unchanged when it meets on Tuesday in Angola, Algeria's Energy Minister Chakib Khelil said on Sunday.

• “There will be no change in OPEC supply of crude oil. OPEC will not reduce supply and it will not increase supply,” Khelil told reporters.
• A meeting of the producer group on Tuesday in Luanda is widely expected to keep existing supply curbs in place because although oil inventories are very high, the oil price is also robust.
• Oil on international futures markets has traded close to the $75 per barrel top exporter Saudi Arabia and others have said is fair to both consumers and producers.
• The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has officially held supply targets steady since it agreed a record supply cut in December last year of 4.2 million barrels per day (bpd).
• OPEC delivered about 80 percent of those cuts earlier this year, but compliance has slipped to around 60 percent as the oil price has recovered from a steep slide last year.
• Some have said Tuesday’s OPEC meeting could make the case for tighter compliance, while others have said OPEC might need to act to reduce excess supply early in 2010.
• In a report at the weekend, consultancy PFC Energy said OPEC might have to cut oil supply by one million bpd early in 2010 if weak demand led to a further rise in oil stockpiles, but it did not anticipate a supply reduction to be agreed in Luanda this week.