Kuwaiti minister: OPEC will keep output steady

OPEC has no choice but to keep its market share and shun oil output cuts, Kuwait's oil minister said yesterday, reiterating the view from the emirate that the group will hold its course when it meets next in June. "Of course we are concerned because the price of oil will affect our budget ... within OPEC we don't have any other choice than keeping the ceiling of production as it is because we don't want to lose our share in the market," Ali al-Omair told reporters in Kuwait city. Many OPEC oil ministers have defended the group's November decision not to cut production but instead defend market share and curtail the output of more expensive producers such as the U.S. The accord pushed oil prices below $50 per barrel, extending a sharp decline that began in June amid a global glut of crude and weakening demand. Omair said he expected higher prices by the end of the year. "There are indications that at end of 2015 the economic growth rates will improve and this would make the prices improve," he said. OPEC has said it believes oversupply will evaporate as oil demand picks up and U.S. oil production growth slows.