(VOVworld) - OPEC countries will maintain their collective oil production output for the foreseeable future, officials from the organization said on Tuesday, maintaining that OPEC’s current strategy has helped stabilize the global oil market this year.

Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi talks to journalists during the OPEC seminar ahead of an OPEC meeting in Vienna, Austria, June 3, 2015. (Photo: Reuters)

Speaking on the sidelines of an OPEC seminar in Vienna, OPEC officials said it was unlikely that OPEC would change its current strategy, in order not to put pressure on prices during the second half of the year. Speaking to reporters at the seminar, Iraq’s Oil Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi maintained that OPEC’s strategy of keeping production stable and seeking to maintain individual members’ market shares, instead of attempting to drive up prices above 100 dollars again by lowering production, has paid off. Saudi Arabia’s oil minister echoed Abdul Mahdi’s view, saying that demand in fact is picking up, supply is slowing, adding that the market is stabilizing.