Analysts hold the line on Opec production meeting

OIL PRICES marked time as the first day of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting in Geneva ended inconclusively, Reuter reports. Opec ministers will reconvene today to set their oil production ceiling for the April-June quarter. The international benchmark Brent crude was two cents down on the London futures market at dollars 13.87 a barrel in yesterday's late afternoon trading.

Most traders expect Opec to roll over its current 24.52 million barrels per day ceiling. But a report prepared by Opec's own analysts, and studied by ministers in Geneva, warned that if they do nothing to defend already weak prices, oil may drop to single-digit levels and decimate their income.

All depends on the stance of Saudi Arabia, Opec's top producer, which has a long-standing resistance to cutting its 8 million bpd quota and thereby risking losing customers. The Saudi stance is seen as a block to moves by other Opec members to push for a cut in the ceiling.

A delegate from Iran, the second- biggest Opec producer, seen suffering from falling oil revenue, said later that 'a majority are saying there should be a cut'.