OPEC to continue current levels of oil production

OPEC members have formally agreed to continue pumping oil at current levels of production.

There were fears that the organisation would cut output despite a dramatic drop in oil prices since the terror attacks on the US.

The decision was announced after a final round of talks at the cartel's headquarters in Vienna, Austria.

Confronted by a shrinking demand for oil and uncertainty over US-led military action against terrorism, OPEC delegates plan to reconvene on November 14 to review market conditions.

They said they would cut output at that time if necessary.

OPEC's official output is 23.2 million barrels per day. The group supplies almost 40% of the world's oil, including overproduction estimated at between 700,000 and 1.5 million barrels per day.

It has already cut back its official production three times this year, most recently by one million barrels a day on September 1.

Several ministers stressed earlier that OPEC's target price remains $25 a barrel and they did not rule out adjusting output before their next meeting in November if prices remained unacceptably low.

Under an existing arrangement, OPEC has said it will cut its daily production by 500,000 barrels if its benchmark price for crude falls below $22 a barrel for 10 consecutive trading days.

The OPEC benchmark price stood at $20.11 on Wednesday, the third consecutive day on which it languished below $22.