What OPEC has said ahead of March 17 meeting

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meets to consider oil output policy on March 17 in Vienna, Austria.

The 12-member group, which pumps more than a third of the world's oil, looks set to keep its output target steady, as it has done for more than a year, with global demand expected to revive.

In December 2008, with prices and fuel use falling because of the recession, OPEC announced a record production cut of 4.2 million barrels per day (bpd). It has kept the target unchanged since then, but compliance has waned to 53%.

Despite the slippage, oil prices have traded broadly within OPEC's preferred range of USD 70 to USD 80 per barrel since the last meeting in December - although they have broken higher since last week to trade currently around USD 81.50.

OPEC's members are Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. All except Iraq have output targets.

The following are comments made since March 1 by OPEC ministers and officials looking ahead to the March 17 meeting:

March 10 - Kuwait

"OPEC will maintain the same production levels," Imad al-Atiqi, a member of Kuwait's Supreme Petroleum Council said, with prices around the "desired range" of USD 70 to USD 80 a barrel.

Lack of compliance among OPEC members with output curbs was an area of concern, he added.

March 9 - Iran

OPEC may not necessarily boost output if oil demand rises, Iran OPEC governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi was quoted as saying.

"Any rise in the demand for oil in the wake of improvement in the global economic situation would not necessarily mean that OPEC will raise its output ceiling as non-OPEC producers could increase their production," he said, the official IRNA news agency reported.

March 8 - Algeria

"I think if the economy strengthens, and I think it is we should see by the end of the year (prices in) the low end of the USD 80s and I think that's a fair price," Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil told Reuters in an interview.

March 8 - Saudi Arabia

"Yes," current oil prices are fair, Saudi Arabia's Deputy Oil Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told reporters.

He said members should uphold commitments to output targets.

"Saudi Arabia always had, still has, and continues to have an excellent record on maintaining its commitment on the quota and it would certainly help if everybody commits to its own quota," he said.

March 2 - Iraq

"We really don't expect that in the next OPEC meeting there would be any change ... Despite the fact the global economy is gradually recovering, demand has not increased significantly enough to make us reconsider our production ceiling," Iraq's oil minister, Hussain al-Shahristani, told Reuters.

March 2 - UAE

Global oil markets are "well supplied," the oil minister of the United Arab Emirates said.

Mohammed al-Hamli added that oil prices between USD 70 and USD 80 per barrel are acceptable to producers.

"Oil price stability has been achieved despite weakness in the global economy and unfavourable market conditions," he said at an industry event.

March 1 - Libya

"If things stay as they are, we will probably stay put," the chairman of Libya's National Oil Corporation, Shokri Ghanem, told Reuters.

He added OPEC members should increase compliance.

"We are not very happy with the compliance and will continue to emphasise that we should try to comply more. Members have to do a little bit better," he said.