Singapore, Apr 23: Oil prices were slightly firmer in Asian trading today with the market dominated by uncertainty over whether OPEC will cut output quotas, dealers said. At 0925 IST (0355 GMT), the benchmark New York light sweet crude contract for June delivery traded at 28.07 dollars a barrel in after-hours trading, up from its close of 27.99 dollars in New York yesterday.
The 11 members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are to meet in Vienna tomorrow in an extraordinary meeting to decide whether to curb overall production. Over the weekend, OPEC president Abdullah Bin Hamad al-Attiyah said the group must act to curb a surplus of two million barrels a day on the market since the Iraq war.
But yesterday, an OPEC official in Vienna said that ministers attending the meeting would probably call for members of the cartel to hold to its current quota of 24.5 million barrels a day.
There is no clear sign about what OPEC will decide to do," a dealer with a Singapore trading firm said. Dealers said crude prices could fall to 26-27 dollars a barrel if OPEC decided to keep production at current levels. Bureau Report