VIENNA, May 28 (Xinhua) -- The 153rd Meeting of the Conference of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided on Thursday to keep its production quota unchanged.

    The decision was made at the OPEC meeting in Vienna, as expected previously.

    The world economic downturn caused by the global financial crisis would result in a weak demand for crude oil for some time, OPEC spokesman Omar Ibrahim told a press conference after the meeting.

    Although it appeared recently that the world economy was about to reach the bottom, the economy was still facing with a weak industrial production, contraction of world trade and high unemployment, he said.

    Consequently, the OPEC meeting decided to maintain the current production level for a certain period of time, he added.

    Ibrahim said the OPEC Secretariat would continue to "pay close attention to" market conditions, make efforts to keep oil prices at a fair and reasonable level, and, if necessary, take prompt measures to ensure market supply of crude oil.

    OPEC Secretary-General Abdalla Salem El-Badri, when responding to questions about the OPEC's decision, said the purpose of the move to promote the stability on the international crude oil market.

    He said the OPEC, fist of all, wanted to contribute to the stability of the international economy. If the OPEC cut its production now, the crude oil market might become volatile again when the world economic recovery was really coming, he added.

    According to the OPEC's latest monthly report, the global demand for crude oil this year is less than that of last year by a daily average of 1.57 million barrels, to 84.03 million barrels per day, as a result of the world economic crisis.

    After a eight-month-long decline in prices, OPEC oil prices have risen 75 percent since the end of last year. The OPEC crude oil average prices rose from 34.69 U.S. dollars a barrel on Dec. 29, 2008, to 60.75 U.S. dollars per barrel on May 27 this year.

    In order to reduce the oversupply of crude oil on the international market, the OPEC decided to cut its production for three times during the last four months of 2008, representing 4.2 million barrels a day.

    The next OPEC ministerial meeting will be held in September this year to decide the next phase of oil production quotas.