Roundup: OPEC keeps its output ceiling at 30 mln barrels per day

OPEC decided to maintain its production ceiling at 30 million barrels a day at the cartel's meeting here on Friday.

The decision showed that the cartel is sticking to its strategy of unconstrained oil production, as it is seeking to battle for its market share and curb production from high-cost U.S. shale instead of bolstering the oil price by cutting the output.

Thanks to advanced technology, shale oil is increasingly playing an important role in the global market, starting to squeeze OPEC's share, which accounts for approximately one third of the world market.

The low oil price strategy is expected to restrain U.S. shale oil production due to the rising cost pressure of shale oil pumpers, however, it seems that the shale oil is more resilient than expected, the output has not plunged significantly.

The cartel has signaled it would not cut the output alone without a coordinated production reduction with other non-OPEC oil producers, such as Russia and the United States.

Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, Qatar's minister of energy and industry and alternate president of the OPEC conference told reporters in a press conference that OPEC's decision is in line with the world economy and market dynamics, saying the cartel is monitoring the development of the market.

According to OPEC's forecast, the world oil supply would be at around 94.10 million barrels per day, around 1.6 million barrels higher than the demand.

OPEC Secretary General Abdullah el-Badri told reporters the cartel has no " target price," saying that the main challenge of OPEC in the future is the economic situation.

OPEC refused to reduce its output in the November meeting last year, and oil prices rebounded by more than a third after hitting a six-year low of 45 U.S. dollars a barrel in January. Endit