Oil prices hold steady after Opec announcement

Oil prices held steady today after news that the Opec cartel is to increase quotas by a million barrels a day.

The cost of a barrel of crude hovered above the $44 mark – down slightly on yesterday – after Kuwait’s oil minister said Opec had agreed to raise output by nearly 4% from November 1.

But analysts said the move would not lead to more oil production, since producers were already pumping over existing limits to meet strong demand.

The cost of oil has soared in recent months amid soaring demand and tight global supplies, worsened by factors such as disruption in Iraq and financial troubles at Russia’s largest oil producer, Yukos.