The Organisation of Oil Exporting Countries (Opec) has agreed to keep to its existing oil output quota.

The decision was widely expected but nonetheless sent the price of the UK benchmark, Brent crude oil, up by 72 cents to $81.25 a barrel.

US light sweet crude was up 77 cents at $82.47 a barrel.

The oil producers’ cartel is already exceeding its stated production target of 24.84 million barrels a day, but expects demand to mop up that extra.

Saudi Arabia’s oil minister said he expected demand to rise strongly.
The minister, Ali al-Naimi, told the Reuters news agency just before the cartel’s meeting in Vienna that he was content with the way things were going.

“Good demand, reliable supply, beautiful prices — we are very happy,” he said.

The kingdom, which is the second biggest oil producer in the world, behind Russia, said global demand would rise by one million barrels a day, with most of that coming from Asia.

But Opec’s president, Germanico Pinto, said they could not be complacent about the health of the economy.