LONDON, Sept 4: World crude prices climbed on Tuesday, as Qatar’s energy minister said Opec would not move next week to increase the cartel’s oil output to battle tight global supplies amid strong energy demand.

They had earlier fallen as traders predicted that Hurricane Felix would probably avoid crucial oil installations in the US Gulf of Mexico.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for October delivery rose 35 cents to $73.76 dollars per barrel.

New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, gained 74 cents from its closing price Friday to $74.78 per barrel. US floor trading was shut on Monday owing to a US national holiday.

Qatar’s energy minister on Tuesday declared that there were no plans to increase crude oil production at next week’s Opec meeting in Vienna as the 12-nation cartel sees no shortages in the market.At its last regular meeting in March, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to keep its official production quota at 25.8 million barrels of oil per day.

“I think they’re happy with oil prices at these levels,” Bank of Ireland analyst Paul Harris said on Tuesday in reference to Opec.—AFP