OPEC ponders strategy, but lacks options to raise oil price

VIENNA (AP) – Faced with low prices and plentiful supply, OPEC oil ministers want to turn the market around. But their options are limited.
The 12-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting countries began meeting Friday with prices of U.S. benchmark crude up marginally but still just above $41 a barrel, near the lows of the world economic crisis seven years ago.
OPEC has in the past cut output to crimp supply and drive up prices. But some members already are selling at a loss and doing so now cutting would further hurt them financially. Instead, OPEC output may go up. Sanctions on Iranian oil sales are about to end and Indonesia will be reinstated as a member.
Conference president Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu described the oil industry Friday as “in the midst of another challenging cycle.”