Business and Finance

OPEC ministers on Monday gathered in Vienna ahead of a meeting to review output policy, but were widely expected to leave formal targets unchanged, especially as a powerful hurricane could lift oil prices.

The oil market touched a five-month low just above $105 on Friday, under pressure from economic weakness and lower fuel consumption.

It recovered to above $107 a barrel on Monday as traders weighed the risk Hurricane Ike could crash into energy installations in the Gulf of Mexico after sweeping through Cuba.

“We don’t think there is a requirement to decrease production,” Kuwaiti Oil Minister Mohammad Olaim told reporters in Kuwait before leaving for Vienna.

“If the market requires anything to do, we will,” he added.

A hard core of ministers has said the market was over-supplied following months of over-production led by top exporter Saudi Arabia and output would have to be cut sooner or later to bolster prices guaranteed payday loans. The market has plunged by nearly 30 percent from a record above $147 a barrel hit in July.

“Of course, of course. I believe that the market is over-supplied,” Iranian Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari told reporters on arrival in Vienna early on Monday.

Iran, together with Venezuela, which also has a big-spending, populist government, has been at the forefront of those seeking a high price. 

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