March 15, 2002	Friday	Zilhaj 30, 1422

VIENNA, March 14: Key Opec ministers recommended on Thursday leaving the oil cartel’s output quotas unchanged until June, but it could open the taps after that, Iranian oil minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said.

The 11-member oil cartel, which slashed its production last year amid a world downturn, could increase output again in the second half of the year if there is strong economic recovery over the next three months.

“We recommended to the conference to continue to keep this level of production until the end of June and we recommended to have an extraordinary meeting in mid-June for reviewing the market situation,” he told reporters after a meeting of the Ministerial Monitoring Committee (MMC).

“If there is a good economic growth in the second quarter, we can increase our production,” he said.

He added that Opec compliance with its own production ceilings was very good at close to 85 per cent. “But we hope to increase the percentage of compliance in the second quarter.”—AFP