OPEC said today it would agree to hold the line on oil output and push for tighter adherence with existing production limits to defend its $25 crude target.
The oil ministers of Kuwait and the UAE said they expected to leave supply quotas unchanged at 25.4 million barrels a day.
Oil prices near the top end of OPEC's $22-$28 target range have given ministers the breathing space to wait to make their first cutbacks since the end of 2001.
US crude eased 25 cents to $31.48 a barrel. Iraq's stuttering recovery back towards pre-war production has helped keep the heat under crude. Baghdad is due in about a week to start sales from storage but says it could take at least a year to restore the 2.7 million bpd it was pumping before the US invasion in March.
Independent producers, primarily Russia, Mexico and Norway, are being asked to share future restraints to prevent further loss of market share by OPEC to its non-OPEC rivals.