Kuwait sees no September OPEC cut if oil prices remain steady

OPEC will keep its crude output target unchanged when it next meets in September if oil prices stay at current levels, Kuwait state news agency KUNA cited the country's oil minister as saying on Wednesday.

OPEC would ask its members to comply more strictly with existing supply curbs at the meeting, Sheikh Ahmad al-Abdullah al-Sabah told KUNA, adding that current oil prices are good for the Gulf Arab state.

Oil prices traded at over $71 a barrel on Wednesday, close to the high for the year and within sight of the $75-$80 that many in OPEC have said is needed to secure investment in new supplies for the long term.

OPEC delegates said on Tuesday a cut was unlikely with prices where they were, despite high inventories and weak demand. Rising equity markets and hopes of economic recovery have driven oil's rise rather than a tighter market, analysts say.

Some OPEC members such as Algeria and Iran have floated the idea of a further supply cut. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed supply cuts of 4.2 million barrels per day last year to match the fall in global oil demand due to the recession.

It left output steady at its last meeting in May, betting that economic growth and recovering demand would bring prices to a level that OPEC members could accept.

OPEC holds its next meeting on September 9 in Vienna to set policy.