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NEW YORK - Oil prices climbed sharply Wednesday after OPEC, the cartel that produces 40 percent of world crude, held current output quotas unchanged despite a recent run-up in prices.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for April delivery rose 1.23 dollars to close at 82.93 dollars a barrel.
London's Brent North Sea crude for May delivery leapt 1.43 dollars to 81.96 dollars a barrel.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, as expected, left its output ceiling unchanged at 24.84 million barrels a day at a meeting in Vienna, citing "uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment and world oil demand.
OPEC said it would review the economic situation at its next ordinary meeting in Vienna on October 14.
John Kilduff of Round Earth Capital said the OPEC meeting had been "supportive for prices."
He said with crude oil already above 80 dollars a barrel, OPEC should be starting to talk about raising production, "and by not doing so, there are causing the market to react bullishly to their production policy."
Barclays Capital analysts said the OPEC seemed to be paving the way for prices to go higher.
"We would expect the market to come to perceive the meeting as having provided another green flag in the gradual and continuing transition to the consolidation of an 80-dollar to 90-dollar per barrel price range," they said in a client note.
Ellis Eckland, an independent analyst, pointed to rising strength in Wall Street stocks as a springboard for oil prices, a day after the Federal Reserve said it would hold interest rates near zero for an extended period of time to support the fragile US recovery.
"People are getting more confident in the global recovery, and more confident that the fact that the Fed won't raise rates, which is bullish for commodities," Eckland said.
The market shrugged off the latest weekly petroleum inventories report by the United States, the world's largest energy consumer.
The US Department of Energy (DoE) said crude reserves rose by one million barrels in the week ending March 12, in line with market expectations.
Stockpiles of distillates, which include diesel and heating fuel, fell more than expected, by 1.5 million barrels.
Gasoline inventories sank by 1.7 million barrels, widely topping forecasts.
- AFP /ls
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