OPEC talks have broken down without an agreement to raise output after Saudi Arabia failed to convince the cartel to lift production.
Secretary General Abdullah El-Badri said the effective decision was no change in policy and that OPEC hoped to meet again in three months time. No date has been set for another meeting.
'Unfortunately we are unable to reach a consensus to reduce or raise production,' Mr El-Badri told reporters in Vienna.
Brent crude oil was last up $1.20 at $117.98 a barrel. US crude rose $2.03 to $101.12.
Gulf Arab delegates said Iran, Venezuela and Algeria refused to consider an output increase. Non-Gulf delegates said Saudi Arabia had proposed an increase on top of April supplies that was too high for them to contemplate.
An increase in OPEC output would have been the first for almost four years.
Consumer nations had appealed to OPEC to pump more crude amid concerns that high oil prices could further damage the faltering global economic recovery.
Brent crude has soared by about 21% in value since the start of this year as spreading unrest in the oil-rich Middle East and North Africa region cut supplies. Unrest in OPEC member Libya, which erupted in February, has removed about 1.3 million barrels per day from the global oil market.
Oil supply is not meeting world demand and the United States has had conversations with supplier countries in that context, White House spokesman Jay Carney said today.
‘We believe that we are in a situation where supply does not meet demand,’ Carney told reporters after an OPEC meeting did not result in a decision to increase supply.
Carney said US president Barack Obama is keeping open the option of using US strategic oil reserves, but no decisions about that had been made.
