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OPEC Assures Oil Output to Keep Prices Affordable

Posted on: Thursday, 9 March 2006, 09:01 CST

OPEC assures oil output to keep prices affordable

VIENNA, March 8 (Xinhua) -- OPEC said on Wednesday it would keep oil output close to the limit to bring prices within consumers' comfort zone and fill supply gaps.

However, a threat by Iran to review its oil exports undermined the message.

OPEC ministers meeting here said there would be no change to the group's 28 million barrels per day ceiling, which has been in place since July 2005, despite forecasts for lower demand in the spring.

A local report also quoted an OPEC delegate as saying that a formal agreement had already been reached.

"There are simply too many geopolitical factors to change production," said OPEC President Edmund Daukoru.

But at the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency talks also in Vienna, Iran had issued its warning even before its oil minister sat down with OPEC colleagues to discuss output.

As the UN nuclear watchdog hardened its tone in talks over Iran's uranium enrichment work, speculation grew that a failure to agree could leave the world's fourth biggest oil exporter at risk of sanctions.

Javad Vaeedi, deputy secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said Iran would have to review its oil policies if world pressure grew over its atomic program.

Also in Nigeria, rebel attacks have cut exports from the world's eighth biggest supplier by 11 million barrels since the start of the year.

Fellow OPEC member Iraq is also in crisis and oil prices are at their highest level in real terms for 25 years.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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