VIENNA, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Saudi Arabia's oil minister Thursday suggested OPEC will try to keep oil prices high to compensate for a weak U.S. dollar at the OPEC meeting in Vienna.
Observers see this as a sign the cartel might end its system of price targets, which has kept world oil markets stable in recent years.
OPEC officials ended a meeting Thursday with an agreement to keep its output ceiling unchanged, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries pledged in 2000 to vary its production levels and keep oil prices between $22 and $28 per barrel.
"We are not going to do something about high prices," a senior OPEC official said Thursday. The cartel would not comment on how high it is willing to allow prices to rise before intervening.
OPEC's oil price has averaged about $28 a barrel this year, the high end of the targeted range. OPEC's price typically runs a couple dollars a barrel lower than U.S. crude, a different kind of oil.
Higher oil prices act as a tax on consumers, hurting fuel-based businesses and motorists filling up their vehicles. Higher prices also can drive up natural-gas prices.
