CARACAS, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would keep its current oil production levels, the Venezuelan Energy and Petroleum Ministry announced Tuesday.

    The ministry said the 155th OPEC ministerial meeting in Luanda, Angola decided to keep its production quota unchanged in light of ongoing weakness in the world economy.

    It said world oil demand fell for the second consecutive year, the first time that had happened since the 1980s, and, while the worst of the global financial crisis appeared to have passed, the global economy remained mired in its deepest contraction since the1940s.

    In order to keep the oil market stable, the OPEC meeting repeated its call to non-OPEC oil producers and exporters to cooperate with the organization to help re-balance the market, said the ministry.

New OPEC chairman sees crude oil at $80 per barrel reasonable

    LUANDA, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador's Minister of Non-Renewable Natural Resources Germanico Pinto, the new chairman of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), said here on Tuesday that he believed the reasonable price for crude oil should be 80 U.S. dollars.

    Germanico Pinto takes over the rotating OPEC chairmanship from Angola's Oil Minister Botelho de Vasconcelos at the 155th ministerial meeting of the oil cartel in Luanda. Full story

OPEC meeting officially keeps output quota unchanged

    LUANDA, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- The 155th ministerial meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) closed here on Tuesday after oil ministers unanimously agreed to keep the production quota unchanged with a call for member states to comply with production ceilings.

    The decision at the Luanda meeting was the fourth time this year that OPEC kept its output quota unchanged as OPEC officials believed the current prices are acceptable, and the prices staying at the 75 U.S. dollars per barrel was "excellent" as said by Abdullah El-Badri, secretary-general of the oil cartel during the meeting. Full story

Special Report:  Global Financial Crisis