OPEC agreed today to maintain severe restraints on oil production for the fourth quarter to keep crude prices riding high, cartel ministers said.
The cartel's cutbacks, in place since January, have combined with the threat of a US war against Iraq to push benchmark US crude close to $30 a barrel - a setback for industrialised powers trying to sustain a shaky economic recovery.
OPEC President Rilwanu Lukman admitted members were pumping about 1.8 million to 2 million barrels a day above official limits of 21.7 million bpd for 10 countries.
Despite OPEC quota-cheating, production still has not been high enough for the normal stockbuild seen during the third quarter. Inventories are particularly low in the United States, easily the world's biggest importer.
Data released this week showed US stocks of crude draining sharply, even before the seasonal jump in demand during the northern hemisphere winter. Inventories are running about 4 per cent or 12.5 million barrels lower than at this time last year.