OPEC searches for way to shore up oil prices

by The Associated Press

The challenge for OPEC, meeting the last week of September, was to shore up oil prices without aggravating the global economic slowdown.

Key OPEC delegates said that any change in the group's production is unlikely. OPEC president Chakib Khelil said Sept. 25 that the cartel wouldn't alter its production or pricing policies at the meeting.

OPEC's official output is 23.2 million barrels a day but many OPEC members are still producing well above their quotas.

The group's challenge is to reach a consensus about prices, which have tumbled since the New York Mercantile Exchange resumed trading crude oil futures after Sept. 11.

Leo Drollas, chief economist at the Center for Global Energy Studies in London, said oil demand is "ultra-soft" with large U.S. inventories.

"If OPEC wants to revive its finances, the best it can hope for is a cold winter" — and a resulting increase in demand for heating oil, he said.