The 12-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries has been talking about whether it needs to meet due to rising prices
and the loss of Libyan supplies. The group believes that supply is adequate,
said the delegate, who declined to be identified.
"There have been consultations and we don't see a need
to meet at the moment," the delegate said.
Brent crude oil rose on Wednesday by 79 cents to $113.27 a
barrel as of 11132 GMT.
Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery
lost 14 cents at $104.88 a barrel in midday trading on the New York Mercantile
Exchange.
Oil prices had fallen on Tuesday after Kuwait's oil minister
said OPEC was in talks about boosting supplies and holding an early meeting.
OPEC's next scheduled meeting to review output policy is in
June. Secretary General Abdallah El-Badri has been speaking to member countries
to find out whether they believed an earlier
meeting was warranted.
According to the OPEC statute, an extraordinary meeting may
be convened at the request of a member country by the secretary general, after
consultation with the president and approval by a
simple majority of members.
OPEC's rotating presidency is held this year by Iran, which
on Tuesday downplayed speculation of more OPEC oil and said "no concrete
decision" had been made on whether to hold a meeting.
"There is no shortage in the market," Iranian OPEC
Gov. Mohammad Ali Khatibi told Reuters. Iran is OPEC's second-largest producer.
The fighting in Libya has shut down about two-thirds of the
oil output in Africa's third-largest producer. The OPEC member normally pumps
1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) of high-quality
oil, or about 2 percent of world output.
While OPEC has not changed its formal output policy for more
than two years, its members have been boosting actual supply for months in
response to rising oil prices and demand.
Top world exporter Saudi Arabia has offered extra supplies
to replace lost Libyan barrels and said on Tuesday it had developed a
"special mix" of crude close in quality to the supplies lost.
Some other OPEC members, such as Nigeria, are expected to
provide smaller increases in coming weeks.
