LONDON, Sept 5: World oil prices steadied on Wednesday, with support from the ongoing US Atlantic hurricane season and widespread expectations that Opec will freeze its output next week, dealers said.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for October delivery eased four cents to $73.88 per barrel.New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, firmed five cents to $75.13 per barrel.

“Crude futures were little changed ... holding onto robust gains from Tuesday ahead of the weekly US fuel inventories report,” Sucden analyst Michael Davies said in London.

The US Energy Information Administration will release its inventory data on Thursday, a day later than usual owing to Monday’s public holiday in the United States.

Analysts are predicting that US crude stocks fell again last week.

Elsewhere, the market is tracking the threat to energy facilities from the ongoing Atlantic hurricane season. Although Hurricanes Felix and Dean have spared oil installations, energy output has been stopped in Mexico as a precaution.

Traders are also looking ahead to next week’s Opec meeting in Vienna.

Opec member Iran on Wednesday indicated it was against any increase in the cartel’s production quota.

“Currently there is sufficient oil on the market,” caretaker Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari told reporters ahead of the meeting on September 11.

“There have been forecasts of one or two hurricanes and this has caused prices to rise. But our position is clear -- there is a sufficient supply of oil on the market,” he said.

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.

World oil prices had shot up Tuesday after Qatar’s energy minister said Opec would not move next week to increase the cartel’s oil output, despite calls for the organization to respond to tight global supplies and strong energy demand.

New York’s main futures contract rallied $1.04 on Tuesday, closing above $75 per barrel for the first time since August 3.

“The market continues to draw support from speculations that Opec is likely to leave its output unchanged during the group’s next meeting on September 11th, despite repeated calls from many consumer nations to increase the group’s output,” Sucden’s Davies added.—AFP