OSAKA -- OPEC oil ministers rebuffed calls from Western countries and Japan to increase oil production at their meeting here Thursday, deciding to keep its official crude oil output intact for the October-December quarter.
"There is a consensus that there is enough oil. There is no need for more than we are physically putting into the market at the moment," said Rilwanu Lukman, president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
In the joint communique released Thursday night, OPEC noted that only moderate global economic growth rates were expected before the yearend, with only normal, seasonal growth in demand expected for the fourth quarter.