Saudi Arabia and Kuwait today said they expect OPEC to keep oil production levels stable so as not to alter prices at a meeting of the cartel this week.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi said the market was "stable and balanced" and that he therefore believed there would not be any decision to change output.
"The price is at a comfortable level for producer and consumer countries as well as for the oil industry," he said ahead of tomorrow's meeting of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna.
His Kuwaiti counterpart also said he thought OPEC would keep the oil production ceiling unchanged.
"I think that all parameters lead to keeping the production as it is and this, of course, will be reflected in prices" remaining unchanged, Ali al-Omair told reporters in Kuwait City before leaving for the Austrian capital.
The 12-member OPEC cartel, which supplies about one third of the world's crude, is pumping around 30 million barrels of oil daily.
OPEC is also satisfied with current price levels at about USD 100 a barrel.
Oil prices extended their gains today ahead of the OPEC meeting while energy market investors kept a close watch over vital Ukraine-Russia gas talks.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for July gained 36 cents to USD 104.77 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude was up 18 cents to USD 110.17 for its July contract in London afternoon trading.
