OPEC Ministers Agree to Hold Production Steady, Official Says

By Ayesha Daya

Sept. 10 (Bloomberg) -- OPEC, whose members supply more than 40 percent of the world's oil, agreed to maintain current production levels, an OPEC official said.

Ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are still meeting at the group's headquarters in Vienna, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

``OPEC has kept output unchanged because politically there's so much concern over high oil prices and OPEC has been blamed for much of this,'' John Hall, managing director of John Hall Associates Ltd. said before the decision was announced.

The quota for 12 of OPEC's 13 members is 29.673 million barrels a day.

Brent crude oil fell below $100 a barrel for the first time in five months yesterday and prices have fallen more than 30 percent from July's records.

``The market is in a very healthy position,'' Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, who sets policy for the world's largest oil producer, told reporters before ministers started closed-door talks at the Vienna headquarters of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ayesha Daya in Vienna at adaya1@bloomberg.net.