VIENNA, June 26: The Opec oil cartel is to maintain its current oil production quotas until the end of September, but will continue to monitor market conditions, it said in a statement.

“Market conditions will... continue to be carefully monitored, and the conference reiterated its commitment to take any further measures when demand necessitates,” it said.

The statement was issued after a formal meeting lasting less than two hours of OPEC ministers, which had been widely expected to leave production quotas unchanged.

The 11-member cartel is scheduled to meet again in Vienna on September 18.

Meanwhile, In London, oil prices fell back on Wednesday as a collapse in equity prices around the globe reignited worries about the health of the world economy and the strength of demand for oil in the months ahead.

Brent North Sea crude for August delivery traded 32 cents down on its previous close at $24.88 a barrel by late afternoon.

In New York, light sweet crude August-dated futures was seven cents lower at $26.27.

“People have been focusing on events in the stock market. If they are accurately predicting events in the real economy people could be in for bit of a shock,” said one London-based oil broker.

He added that the failure of both the London and New York markets to break out of their existing ranges on Tuesday added to the negative tone.

“Both contracts failed to set new highs and that caused a bit of disappointment,” he said.

News that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries had agreed to maintain output curbs, that have helped revive rates from a post-September 11 slump, for the next three months, was largely overlooked by the markets.

“The decision was pretty much written into the market a couple of months ago. In any case, the key question is will they (the Opec members) stick to their quotas. The jury’s still out on that one,” the broker told AFP.

He said comments from Iran’s oil minister, who said the cartel would in any case “probably” lift output in the fourth quarter, “had helped put a bit of a dampener on things”.

Conflicting data on US oil stocks failed to provide the markets with a clear lead.

According to figures released by the US energy department on Wednesday, US crude stocks fell 3.4 million barrels, or 1.1 per cent, to 319.6 million in the week ended June 21.—AFP