Oil prices rose yesterday as tensions remained high in the Middle East and oil ministers began assembling ahead of this week's OPEC meeting, which is expected to leave tough output restrictions in place.
Benchmark Brent crude on London's International Petroleum Exchange closed 54 US cents higher at $25.29 (€25.89) a barrel, while US light sweet crude gained 65 cents to $26.60. Analysts said they expected that, in the immediate term, any further price gains would be modest.
Although OPEC, at its meeting in Vienna tomorrow, is expected to decide to leave existing production ceilings in place, analysts believe the cartel is already pumping more oil than their official quotas.
They argue that OPEC fears losing market share as most of the non-OPEC producers, which had supported OPEC's production limits, have removed output restrictions.
Mr Mark Keenan, trader at ABN Amro, said: "The general consensus is that OPEC will keep the current limits. Officially, production will remain the same, but probably there will be an awful lot of cheating." - (Reuters)
