Libya's oil chief Shukri Ghanem downplayed fears on Saturday that oil cartel Opec could decide to lower production at its March 5 meeting in Vienna.
"I don't think much will happen (at the meeting). I think prices will stay between 85 and 90 dollars," Ghanem told AFP after an extraordinary meeting of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries in the Austrian capital.
He added he was happy with a price range between 82 and 90 dollars per barrel. Light sweet crude for delivery in March closed Friday in New York at 88.96 dollars per barrel.
Industry analysts have said Opec could decide to lower production at a regular session in March to prevent a drop in oil prices in the event of a recession in the United States. But Ghanem, chairman of Libya's National Oil Corporation, said he remained optimistic: "I think it will be a soft landing rather than a recession."
He also pointed out that Libya currently produces between 1.8 and 1.9 million barrels of oil per day and was aiming to up its production to three million barrels per day by 2012.
Asked about plans for a "gas Opec" to be formed along the lines of the existing oil cartel, Ghanem added: "we are in favour of a sort of gathering (of gas producing countries) to exchange information and to talk about the future market in gas."
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