Vienna (Platts)--31May2013/941 am EDT/1341 GMT

OPEC ministers meeting in Vienna Friday reached an expected agreement to maintain the group's current crude production limits, leaving their combined output ceiling at 30 million b/d.

Ministers had widely signaled their happiness with current production limits in the run-up to the talks, and their formal meeting took less than two hours to agree the rollover, which means the ceiling has remained unchanged since coming into force in January 2012.

In a statement after the meeting, OPEC noted that world oil demand was expected to rise to 89.7 million b/d in 2013 from 88.9 million b/d in 2012, while non-OPEC supply is expected to rise by 1 million b/d.

"Taking these developments into account, the second half of the year could see a further easing in fundamentals, despite seasonally-higher demand," the statement said.

"In light of the foregoing, the conference again decided that member countries should adhere to the existing production ceiling of 30 million b/d," it added.

OPEC has agreed to meet next on December 4 in Vienna to review production levels.

Venezuelan oil minister Rafael Ramirez said as he left the meeting that "everyone has agreed to maintain the level of production."

"We are monitoring the market and following the demand of the market and the economic situation in Europe and the US, and then at our next ordinary meeting in December we can have more elements [to consider]," Ramirez said.

OPEC secretary-general Abdalla el-Badri said the group was happy to leave the output agreement in place given current market fundamentals.

"Why would we change? It's working," he said.

Neil Atkinson, Director of energy research and analysis at Datamonitor, said OPEC's decision came as no surprise.

"Broadly speaking, OPEC is supplying about the right quantity of oil to the market to keep it balanced," he said.

--Staff reports, newsdesk@platts.com

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