VIENNA: Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi said he was satisfied with the current price of oil and saw no reason to change output quotas, as he arrived in Vienna Monday for an OPEC meeting later this week. “Am I comfortable with the price? Yes,” Naimi told journalists ahead of the cartel's meeting Thursday. “The price between 70 and 80 (dollars per barrel) is an ideal price,” he added, noting that he was “happy” with the current situation. Although oil prices were still above the $80 mark Monday after hitting five-month highs over $85 last year, Naimi expressed satisfaction. “We are comfortable with the whole market today, the situation in the market is very comfortable,” he told journalists. “The economic growth of the world has been remarkable in 2010.” Naimi hinted that a change in production quotas for OPEC's 12-member countries was not in the cards at Thursday's meeting, as he asked why the cartel should consider such a move. He rejected the idea that OPEC, which pumps 40 percent of the world's oil, might increase production this year. “The market is very well balanced, everybody is happy with the market, consumers, producers: very happy,” Saudi Arabia's oil minister said. “I think the supply is adequate and the demand is quite active,” he added. Analysts and traders said the fillip to oil prices caused by expectations of further quantitative easing in the United States, which helped raise US crude as high as $84.43 a barrel last week, might have run its course as the dollar firmed Monday. US crude for November delivery fell 45 cents, or 0.54 percent, to settle at $82.21 on Monday. Prices slipped further in post-settlement trade to hit a low for the day of $81.85 a barrel. In London, ICE November Brent crude fell 32 cents to settle at $83.71 a barrel, before slipping further to $83.38 a barrel by 4 P.M. EDT (2000 GMT). “The big factor in the oil market in the past couple of weeks has been the pricing in of QE2,” said Mike Wittner, an oil analyst at Societe Generale in London, who credited oil's sustained breakout above $80 at the end of last month to expectations of QE2. “However, this pricing may be coming to an end.”
