OPEC Planning to Maintain Oil Quotas as U.S. Winter Nears

OPEC, supplier of a third of the world's oil, is planning to maintain output quotas through the end of the year as sabotage limits Iraqi exports and demand rises because of winter from the U.S. to Japan, officials said. The group meets today in Vienna. Ministers from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Venezuela and Indonesia have signaled no change is needed because prices are within their target of $22 to $28 a barrel. ``OPEC has no immediate need to act,'' said Chris Brown, director of energy consulting at Wood Mackenzie Consultants Ltd. in London. ``We could see a cut in the next two months depending on how more Iraqi oil comes on line. The last thing OPEC wants is a glut forming.'' Crude oil in London has averaged $28.29 a barrel in 2003, $10 more than the 1990s average, boosting income within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and profit at oil companies such as BP and Exxon Mobil Corp. Prices may fall in 2004 as Iraqi exports and rising output in Russia overwhelm demand, according to a Bloomberg News survey. Iraqi Oil Minister Ibrahim Mohammad Bahr al-Ulum traveled to Vienna for the gathering, where Venezuela objected to the country's participation in the formal meeting. The minister was appointed with the help of the U.S.-led authority in Baghdad, and Iraq's interim government has yet to be recognized by the United Nations. Concern is mounting among ministers that prices will decline in 2004, and Algerian and Kuwaiti officials said OPEC may have to assemble again in December. Oil prices have dropped 15 percent in the past month for OPEC's benchmark, to $24.82 a barrel.