OPEC Says It Will Keep Oil Production Steady

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.

PEC ministers said they will keep oil production steady and that prices are too high to cut production, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

The cartel’s ministers met in Vienna, Austria, Monday and Tuesday.

OPEC is producing near capacity as consumption advances, output growth slows in non-OPEC member Russia and pumping is curbed in the United States following last year's hurricanes, Bloomberg said.

Tensions over Iran's nuclear research program and rebel attacks against oil sites in Nigeria have helped boost the price recently, with prices last week reaching $69.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest in four months.

In early trading Tuesday, oil was trading below $68 before the Nymex opened. Oil hit an all-time high of $70.85 a barrel Aug. 30 immediately following Hurricane Katrina's landfall near New Orleans.

The 11-member group, producer of more than a third of the world's crude, typically cuts production in the second quarter, anticipating a decline in demand as northern hemisphere temperatures rise, reducing the need for heating, Bloomberg reported.

OPEC’s next meeting is set for March 8.