All eyes on record oil prices as OPEC prepares to meet

LONDON (AFP) – OPEC, whose member countries together pump 40 percent of the world’s oil, was expected to maintain its official output ceiling on Wednesday as crude prices trade at record highs above 100 dollars.

OPEC President Chakib Khelil said the 13-member Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries would decide to either cut or hold its current daily output level of 29.67 million oil barrels when it meets in Vienna.


“Either we hold (output) steady or we cut in order to restore market balance and stability,” Khelil, who is also Algeria’s energy minister, said in a statement ahead of Wednesday’s meeting.

OPEC members Iran and Venezuela are calling on the cartel to cut production when it meets in the Austrian capital, arguing that prices were likely to slide when demand for crude drops during the second quarter.

AFP