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Vienna - Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Friday again defied calls to cut output despite the low oil price, extending its new strategy to preserve market share and fend off cheaper competition from the US shale energy boom.
The decision to maintain output levels, made at a key production meeting in Vienna, leaves Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' official collective target at 30 million barrels per day - where it has stood for more than three and a half years.
"The ceiling is the same. You will be surprised how amicable the meeting was," Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told reporters after the gathering of the 12-nation oil producers' cartel that pumps one third of the world's crude.
The global oil market, plagued with demand worries, oversupply and booming US shale output, collapsed 60% between June 2014 - when West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude stood at about $106 per barrel - and late January, when it hit a six-year low under $45.
They have since recovered, but only to around $60, putting the budgets of many oil-producing nations under pressure while giving the battered global economy a much-needed fillip.
But OPEC, which has traditionally defended price levels by cutting output if needed, dramatically switched strategy last November when it opted to leave production unchanged - despite a dramatic oil price collapse that slashed revenues for its members.
"There is a commitment from all the ministers that they will adhere" to the target, OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah El-Badri said Friday.
"As a matter of fact for the last four years we have been enjoying 100 plus dollars," he told reporters, noting that OPEC was now facing a "new reality" of lower price levels.
"At a certain stage we needed to lose our market share for less efficient producers," added El-Badri.
"As we see now, the demand is getting stronger so we respond to the demand."
OPEC -- which comprises nations from Africa, Latin America and the Middle East - is actually pumping 31.2 million bpd, due to increased supplies from Saudi Arabia and Iraq, according to International Energy Agency data.
In response to Friday's decision, oil prices rebounded at first, but then fell back into negative territory.
Brent oil for delivery in July dipped 30 cents to $61.73 per barrel in early afternoon London deals, while New York's WTI for the same month shed 47c to $57.53.
"It was a very good decision," said Kuwait's Oil Minister Ali al-Omair, upon leaving the meeting.
Venezuelan Oil Minister Asdrubal Chavez said there was "total solidarity within the group."
Ministers however declared this week they would be happier with prices between $75 and $80 a barrel to boost revenues and help their public finances.
Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq and Venezuela have all appealed for higher prices that encourage investment.
But Badri said Friday: "The reality now is that we cannot have this $100 any more... we have to take an action.
"The action we took in November was for the benefit of the rich and the poor member countries," he insisted.
Losses accelerated in November after OPEC's change in policy, but analysts say the strategy has paid off as US shale oil producers have been squeezed and crude has recovered somewhat in recent months.
Analysts meanwhile fear the market could be further saturated with oil from Iran should Western sanctions be lifted in a nuclear deal with world powers intended to be completed by June 30.
Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh had already revealed Iran could ramp up oil production by an extra one million barrels per day within half a year of sanctions being removed.
"We do not need any agreement. We will return to the market any time sanctions be lifted," Zanganeh said upon his exit from the meeting Friday.
At the same time, Iraq is currently pumping more oil than planned from southern and northern areas not besieged by Islamic State jihadists.
OPEC ministers will reconvene in Vienna on Friday December 4 to reassess crude production levels and the state of the global oil market.
