(Arabian oil and gas) -- On 14 December the 160th meeting of OPEC oil producing countries concluded with an agreed cartel-wide production target of 30 million barrels per day (bpd). ⌠We have an agreement to maintain the market in balance and we're going to adjust the level of production of each country to open space for Libyan production, Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez told reporters in Vienna. The output limit includes including Iraq, which has no national quota, and Libya.
The move marks OPEC's first output limit change since December 2008, when it was set at 24.84 million bpd, excluding Iraq. The cartel's latest figures show it is currently overshooting this amount by around 2.81 million bpd.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell 1.8% to USD107,06 a barrel on Tuesday after OPEC announced the deal. The agreement was clearly calculated as a show of unity between the members. However, the tough decisions - about who will cut production to make room for Libya and Iraq under the production ceiling, and how much - were left unanswered.