Currently, the quota for the extraction for 11 countries in the organization (Iraq is not subject to the quota) is set at 24.845 million barrels of oil per day, and most analysts did not expect any changes at the May meeting, reminded the “Interfax”.
As the Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi said, OPEC has maintained quotas in anticipation of recovery in demand for oil by the end of this year. Thus, the organization does not change the quota for the second meeting this year.

Meanwhile, the cost of oil since the last OPEC meeting in March has risen by 36%. Recently, crude oil has traded above $ 60 mark per barrel. Before the OPEC meeting the President and Minister of Petroleum of Angola, José Maria de Vasconcelos Botel said that OPEC member countries needed to complete the reduction of oil production in order to achieve full compliance with the quotas, because the cost of oil had not yet reached the desired level of 70-75 dollars per barrel.

Member countries of the Organization have decided to reduce oil production from 1 January 2009 to 4.2 million barrels per day (bpd) compared with the actual level of production in September, which amounted to 29.045 million bpd. However, the April production was 25.81 million bpd, an increase of approximately 225 thousand b/d compared to that of March. This was the first increase in nine months. Thus, the announced reduction of production conducted only at 77%.

OPEC, which accounts for about 40% of the world’s oil supply, is composed of 12 countries: Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Venezuela.

Leaders from 16 major economies have been invited to a “preparatory session” on April 27-28 in Washington to “help generate the political leadership necessary” to achieve an international pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions later this year, it said in a statement.

It said the meeting would spur dialogue among developed and developing countries about the issue, “and advance the exploration of concrete initiatives and joint ventures that increase the supply of clean energy while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.”

The major economies include: Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and the United States.

Denmark, which is hosting a U.N. meeting at the end of this year to forge a pact that would take over from the Kyoto Protocol, and the United Nations were also invited.

The group’s preparatory sessions would culminate with a major meeting on the subject in Italy in July.