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KUWAIT/DOHA – Gulf oil ministers on Tuesday played down the slide in oil prices below $70 a barrel and said OPEC had no plans to call an emergency meeting to discuss supply policy.

US crude tumbled below $68 on Tuesday and has fallen by nearly $20 in three weeks on growing fears that Europes debt crisis would derail the global economic recovery.

The price is below the $70 to $80 range that top oil exporter Saudi Arabia and others in OPEC have said is fair for both producers and consumers.

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KUWAIT/NEW YORK – OPEC would make a decision on whether to boost output to calm oil prices if the market passed $100 a barrel, Kuwaits oil minister said on Thursday.

US crude traded around $85 a barrel on Thursday, a little above the $70 to $80 range that OPECs largest producer Saudi Arabia has said was fair for both consumers and producers.

“Above $100… we would take a decision in this regard,” Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah told reporters at Kuwaits parliament, when asked how high the producer group would allow prices to rise before acting.

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KUWAIT CITY – Kuwaits parliament on Wednesday approved a capital markets law that allows for the formation of an independent stock market regulator, a move aimed at boosting investor confidence in the Gulf regions oldest bourse.

The initial approval of the new law comes just over a week after lawmakers approved a draft law forcing the government to buy all 6.7 billion dinars ($23.7 billion) in consumer loans owed in the country and reschedule payments over a maximum of 15 years. The government has vowed to oppose the law, saying it was unconstitutional and nonviable.

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DUBAI – OPEC would need to meet to discuss policy if the crude price hits $100 a barrel, Kuwaits oil minister said on Tuesday.

US crude touched $82 a barrel last week, the highest level since October 2008 on optimism of an economic recovery in top energy consumer the United States.

“Then wed hold a special session and wed decide,” Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah told reporter at the Gulf Arab states parliament when asked what the producer group would do in response to $100 oil. OPEC pumps more than a third of the worlds oil.

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KUWAIT CITY – Kuwaits Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Sabah on Tuesday ruled out any OPEC production increase this year and predicted oil prices would remain at $60-80 a barrel.

“This year no way. Its not possible,” the minister told reporters when asked if the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries could decide to raise output at a ministerial meeting in December.

“In December, OPEC will be looking at the market situation next year,” he said.

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KUWAIT – Core Gulf Arab OPEC members Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are delivering 98 percent of the crude output cuts they have pledged under OPEC deals, Kuwaits oil minister was reported as saying by state news agency KUNA.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was at around 99 percent compliant with its pledges to curb output, KUNA reported Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah as saying Sunday.

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For a change the decision was simple and straightforward yet the meeting continued into the early hours of Thursday. Evidently at the ministerial meeting in Vienna, there were issues besides just rolling over the quota.

Clarifying the decision, OPEC said: Since the market remains oversupplied and given the downside risks associated with the extremely fragile recovery, the conference once again agreed to leave current production levels unchanged for the time being.

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VIENNA – OPEC ministers meeting in Vienna this week were expected to keep supply targets intact and instead rely on hoped-for economic growth to sustain oil prices.

The oil market rose toward $69 a barrel on Monday after Group of 20 finance leaders said at a weekend meeting they would not end stimulus plans until recovery was well established.

Traders predicted the extended financial support would translate into higher fuel demand.

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VIENNA – Major oil exporters will hold the flow steady at Wednesdays OPEC meeting but will crack down on those breaching agreed cuts, as energy demand remains weak despite signs of economic recovery, analysts say.

A vicious global economic downturn has slammed demand for energy, dragging crude prices from record highs of above $147 in July 2008 to $32 in December. They have since recovered to around $70.

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KUWAIT: An oil price above $100 a barrel would hurt the global economy, Kuwaits oil minister said yesterday.

Optimism on global economic recovery drove a more than 40 percent rally in oil prices in the second quarter, the highest quarterly percentage gain since 1990.

Hopefully in the third quarter and fourth quarter, it wont surpass $100 as this will fuel recession again, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah told reporters in parliament.

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