OPEC output unchanged

28/05/09 20:46 CET

economy

| |

OPEC ministers meeting in Vienna have decided to leave the group’s oil output unchanged. It will stay at 24.85 million barrels per day as the producers set their hopes on a strengthening global economy to boost oil prices.

But OPEC’s Secretary General Abdalla Salem El-Badri said higher prices are needed to pay for investment in looking for and extracting new supplies: “Without any new investment, that means we don’t have new supplies, and if the world economy picks up in the future then maybe there will be a shortage on the supply side, so we would like to have a reasonable price that would be comfortable for the producers and the consumers.” Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told reporters he believes the world is ready to cope with oil at 75 to 80 dollars a barrel predicting it could reach that before the end of the year, although other ministers said it could take longer than that.More about: Oil market, OPEC

| |

Mali: Rebel groups agree to creation of Islamic state

Two Rebel groups have agreed to merge and create an independent Islamic state in Northern Mali. After seizing Azawad – an area larger than France – two months ago, the groups had initially disagreed, with the secular Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA)…