OPEC president likes output as is

KUWAIT CITY – OPEC’s president, backed by oil heavyweight Saudi Arabia, said Sunday there was no need for the powerful group to change output at least for the first quarter of 2006.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is pumping some 30 million barrels a day of crude, a third of the world’s need. Most of the organization’s 11 countries are producing to capacity to meet strong demand from the United States, China and India, among others.

Speaking on the eve of today’s meeting on production and pricing, Sheik Ahmed Fahd Al Ahmed Al Sabah, OPEC’s president and Kuwait’s oil minister, said his call for maintaining the present output likely would be supported.

“I think my proposal will be accepted by all the members,” he said. “It’s important to meet the demand in the market.”

Oil’s price is around $60 a barrel – about 40 percent higher than at the start of the year and with no downward trend discernible. Prices for crude had soared to all-time highs of more than $70 a barrel after hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the U.S. Gulf Coast earlier this year, damaging oil facilities.

Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi also said “most probably there is no need to do anything to the ceiling or the level of production.” The Saudis account for nearly a third of OPEC output.