The head of the International Energy Agency Thursday welcomed OPEC's agreement for a new crude production ceiling of 30 million b/d, saying it was especially significant given the risk at present to the global economy.
In a statement, IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven said she also welcomed OPEC's flexibility.
"We welcome OPEC's expressed commitment to making ample supplies available to the market. This is particularly important given the fragile state of the world economy," van der Hoeven said.
"We welcome OPEC's statement that it will be flexible looking ahead to ensure that market requirements are met," she said.
OPEC ministers meeting in Vienna Wednesday agreed on an oil output ceiling of 30 million b/d that covers all 12 members, including Libya and Iraq, but does not include individual quotas.
Ministers decided to "maintain the current production level of 30 million b/d, including production from Libya, now and in the future," the oil producer club said in an official communique.
In effectively legitimizing current freewheeling production, the agreement consigns to the past the group's acrimonious failure in June to set output levels for the remainder of 2011 but leaves question marks over exactly how OPEC will act in the first half of 2012.
The deal includes a pledge from members to reduce production voluntarily if this becomes necessary.
OPEC's communique said "member countries would, if necessary, take steps (including voluntary downward adjustments of output) to ensure market balance and reasonable price levels."
Van der Hoeven said both the IEA and OPEC had forecast in their most recent market reports that the call on OPEC in 2012 would be around 30 million b/d.
"Both our own and the OPEC secretariat's latest market reports envisage an underlying call on OPEC crude and stocks for next year of close to 30 million b/d. In that sense, we would like to acknowledge OPEC's pledge to ensure that adequate supplies are made available," she said.
"As 2011 has shown, downside supply risks exist alongside those for oil demand."
