DOHA (Dow Jones)--Global oil stocks are within the five-year range, Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali Naimi said Saturday.
Inventories "are within the five-year range, they are in a comfortable range," Al Naimi told reporters in Doha.
The minister earlier Saturday said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' meeting Dec. 5 isn't more critical than past meetings despite concerns about global economic conditions.
The upcoming Abu Dhabi meeting "is absolutely not" more critical than other group meetings, Naimi told reporters in Doha. "All OPEC meetings are critical," he added.
The 13-member OPEC group may next week in Abu Dhabi in the U.A.E. agree a boost to its crude production levels to ease the pain of an economic slowdown and remove some of the sting of oil prices driven toward $100 a barrel partly as a consequence of the weak dollar.
The behind-closed-door view prevailing among leading Persian Gulf oil producers appears to be that a largely symbolic output hike - officials have told Dow Jones Newswires that 750,000 barrels a day is being discussed - is needed, despite a recent weakening in oil prices from a record $99.29 a barrel seen Nov. 21.
Before the recent bout of weakness, oil prices had more than doubled from their lows in January this year.