It is still early to decide whether the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will need to change its current oil output at its next meeting, the chairman of OPEC's board of governors said Wednesday.
"OPEC will take a decision (on its crude oil output) on the spot," Falah Alamri told Dow Jones Newswires by telephone from Vienna, where he is chairing an OPEC governors meeting. "We are now watching the oil markets and crude oil supplies."
Alamri, who is also head of Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization and the country's governor to OPEC, said at its next meeting on March 5, OPEC will "study the U.S. crude inventories and what is happening to the world's economies before deciding on the organization's production,"
U.S. benchmark crude rose $4.51, or 4.7%, Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, closing at $100.01 a barrel which analysts said was due to instability in Nigeria and Venezuela and challenges in the refining sector.
The meeting of OPEC governors which starts in Vienna Tuesday and is expected to finish later Wednesday has so far discussed only administrative issues, Alamri said.
He also said the governors wouldn't discuss the row between Venezuela and the U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) over contracts and assets.