Oil futures strengthened before OPEC meeting

But it also puts increasing financial pressure on oil-producing parts of the country like Texas and North Dakota, places that are already reeling due to cheap energy. But in a break from that strategy, OPEC has held production steady since a year ago in a bid to defend-and extend-its share of the oil market.

And with the market being horrifically oversupplied, this decision will drive oil prices even lower, further exacerbating storage issues.

“Given the present position of the economy of countries that are purchasing (oil) and the worldwide economy, we will retain production at current levels”, said Kachikwu.

Uncertainty over Iran’s future output played a part in no ceiling being agreed: Tehran says it will not consider any curbs until it restores production to pre-sanction levels – an extra one million barrels a day at least.

Saudi Arabia has been content to keep production up, a move which has squeezed non-OPEC producers, including the United States, that have struggled to maintain profits in the face of low prices.

For its part, Iran has repeatedly said it would add 1 million barrels of oil to the market each day when economic penalties are lifted.

The official ceiling remains 30 million barrels a day, but for more than a year now there has been overproduction ranging from just over a million barrels a day to almost twice that much.

Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, left, Nigeria’s oil minister and OPEC president, and OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri arrive for a news conference after a meeting of OPEC oil ministers in Vienna, Austria, on Friday. Major producers inside the cartel were opposed to isolated calls of crimping output.

“We have said on more than one occasion that we are willing to cooperate with anyone that will help balance the market… with us”, Saudi oil minister Ali al Naimi told reporters gathered at Opec headquarters in Vienna.

Crude oil investors had hoped for the cartel to reduce its production rates in an effort to support prices which have more than halved since their highs in June previous year.

Nymex reformulated gasoline futures for January deliver fell 1.72 cents, or 1.3%, to $1.2791 a gallon.

Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were last up 29 cents at $44.13 a barrel at 0921 GMT, having fallen earlier this week to a low of $42.43, within cents of August’s 6-1/2 year trough.

Iraq has also vowed to boost supply in the coming year.

Analysts said the decision shows OPEC remains determined to continue pumping aggressively, putting pressure on US shale producers and other sources of non-OPEC production in what amounts to a price war.