OPEC decided to hold output unchanged at its meeting in Vienna amid signs that the global economy is near a bottom and demand may stabilize. The decision comes as no surprise to analysts since crude prices have rebounded to $65 per barrel, and the dark clouds that had been hanging over oil-producing nations have lifted.

Russia may cut oil production by 200,000-300,000 barrels a day if it joins OPEC's expected output reduction policy, the chief of the country's largest independent producer, LUKoil, said on Monday.

Saudi Arabia promised to increase output by 200,000 barrels to 9.7 million barrels a day. The Saudi's reassurances of supply increases put nary a dent in price of crude. Problems in Nigeria, where attacks last week on Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell pipelines knocked out 375,000 barrel a day of production, have negated the affects of the Saudi increase.

World oil prices rose in Asian trading on Monday after Saudi Arabia said at a weekend summit that it had raised output, and said speculators were partly to blame for higher prices.

International oil companies are negotiating their return to Iraq 36 years after their expulsion from the country by former dictator Saddam Hussein. On 30 June, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, BP and ExxonMobil will sign agreements with Baghdad about providing maintenance work and technical support for Iraqi oil facilities over the next two years.

Finance ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations ended a two-day meeting in Osaka, Japan Saturday with a wide-ranging statement addressing oil and food prices, and troubled financial markets.

A new flow loop commissioned by CSIRO will help researchers find solutions to predict and control gas hydrates formation in offshore oil and gas production pipelines.

Oil prices cooled after rocketing to all-time highs of more than USD 135 a barrel, as the US currency firmed and investors took profits from the record-setting rally.

U.S. President George Bush says a modest increase in oil production by Saudi Arabia will not solve the problem of soaring gasoline prices in the United States.

There is another inconvenient truth about finite resources and human behavior on Planet Earth, an expert on international security and energy says.

OPEC oil ministers say they are unlikely to agree to an oil production hike at their meeting in Vienna Wednesday, despite historically high oil prices. Lisa Bryant has more for VOA from Paris.

The OPEC move reflected concerns about raising production quotas at a time when oil prices have been retreating.