OPEC Chief: OPEC May Act On $100 Bbl Price If Due To fundamentals

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries could change its output ceiling if oil prices rise to $100  a barrel due to market fundamentals, the group’s secretary general said Thursday.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the OPEC meeting in Quito, Abdalla Salem el- Badri said that “when prices go at $100, that means there is something wrong. You have to do something.”

Oil prices broke the psychological threshold of $90 a barrel Tuesday in New York, over a severely cold winter in the Northern Hemisphere and somewhat better-than-expected economic recovery, though they have since slightly eased. On Thursday, crude futures for January delivery in the New York Mercantile Exchange were trading at $88.33, up 6 cents.

While some of OPEC’s most powerful member have said they’re comfortable with the current price level, members such as Libya, Venezuela and Algeria have said would they like oil to reach $100 a barrel, saying they don’t fully benefit from the price because the dollar is weak compared to other currencies.

OPEC reports the gap between real prices — excluding currency and inflation effects — and nominal ones has widened significantly in the past two years. According to OPEC’s reports, the OPEC reference basket has risen from $44.9 a barrel in October 2008 — when it was in free fall — to $49.5 in October 2010, with the difference between nominal and real prices rising from $24.26 a barrel to $30.36 a barrel.

El-Badri said that the oil market is at a comfortable level for both producers and consumers. The organization doesn’t expect to change its output quota at the meeting scheduled for Saturday, el-Badri said. “This is a normal meeting,” he said. “No increase, no decrease.” The official said that there is stability in the oil market.

OPEC’s 12 members are Ecuador, Algeria, Angola, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.