Opec only likely to act if oil rally lasts

Opec will only hold an emergency meeting if oil climbs above $100 and stays there, although the group's Gulf members could informally add supply if needed, a delegate from a Gulf Opec member state said on Thursday. Brent crude this week hit a 27-month high of close to $99 a barrel, raising concern in consuming countries about the impact of higher fuel costs on the tenuous economic recovery.
"Opec will only have an extraordinary meeting if oil prices exceed $100 and stay there. We don't want the market to panic," the delegate told Reuters. "And if the prices reach $100 and we see that there is a need of supply from our customers, Gulf countries will start producing above their quotas, but this has not happened yet."
Most officials in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries maintain there is no need to change a production-restraining policy adopted in 2008, in the aftermath of economic crisis. Opec is not scheduled to hold another meeting until June. That stance was reiterated earlier on Thursday by Libya's top oil official, who said $100 oil would not harm the world economy and there was no need for Opec to add more supplies.