OPEC agrees to hold its oil-production levels steady

Iraqi oil minister and president of the OPEC conference, Abdul-Kareem Luaibi Bahedh, addresses members Thursday in Vienna. (Alexander Klein, AFP/Getty Images)

VIENNA?? OPEC oil ministers agreed Thursday to keep their production target steady, in a compromise meant to defuse rivalries between Iran and Saudi Arabia and to send a soothing message to economically troubled consuming nations.

Oil prices have fallen more than 20 percent over the past two months, which the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said were related to "downside risks facing the global economy" and ample stocks of crude.

While agreeing to hold the output target steady, however, the statement suggested that OPEC ministers were ready to come together on short notice if prices fell to levels dictating a production cutback.

OPEC accounts for about a third of world crude production, and its decision Thursday corresponded with its professed goal of taking volatility out of global oil markets. With the economies of Europe and the United States feeble and even China seeing a slowdown, keeping production targets steady at a time of falling prices was meant to reassure consuming nations that they do not need to fear the added burden of more pricey energy.

But analysts said OPEC was limited in influencing prices.

"The truth is the decision today is not nearly as important as three other events that will occur over the next few weeks," said Jason Schenker of Prestige Economics. He listed Sunday's election in Greece, a meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve on Tuesday and the July 1 implementation of an EU embargo on Iranian oil.

arsenic and old lace leslie varez ward solar storms uganda the parent trap invisible children kony 2012