Oil prices will remain high, OPEC officials said Sunday
VIENNA, Austria — Consumers received no solace from OPEC, which said Sunday that oil prices near $50 per barrel would remain high through the spring, even as the cartel decided to keep its production ceiling unchanged.
The decision, reached at a truncated meeting of the 11-nation group, means that consumers worried about the price of winter heating oil and gasoline will likely see no relief in their bills or costs at the pump.
OPEC’s current quota of 27 million barrels a day was set in December, when the group agreed to shave output by 1 million barrels. But the 10 members of the group subject to the quota — Iraq is not bound by a limit — have been overproducing by a total of 500,000 barrels daily.
Kuwaiti oil minister Sheik Ahmad Fahd al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who leads the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, said he was given permission to conduct a telephone meeting before the next gathering March 16 in Iran to address output if market conditions warrant.
Al-Sabah said prices have been driven higher amid fears of a cold winter in Europe and North America, where demand for heating oil is high. He said OPEC’s decision was aimed at bringing more stability to the market and called on consumers and producers to “walk together ... for prices to be acceptable.”
Vt. company won’t stop selling straightjacket bear
SHELBURNE, Vt. — A straightjacketed “Crazy for You” teddy bear has drawn rebukes from the governor, mental health advocates and human rights groups — but it’s a hit among shoppers.
