OPEC to hold to oil levels

OPEC members have said they have agreed to maintain their current policy and keep pumping oil at 25-year-record levels, rejecting calls from two members, Iran and Venezuela, to pare production.

The conference of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is to begin on Wednesday at the group’s headquarters in Vienna, but the decision to maintain production levels that was widely reported on Monday had already been expected by analysts, and oil prices remained slightly below last summer’s record levels.