Oil crept higher today after OPEC maintained its output quotas at existing levels, analysts said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery added 40 cents to $71.71 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for October delivery rose 22 cents to $70.05 a barrel.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) today said after the conclusion of a ministerial meeting in Vienna that its production levels would be maintained at current levels.
"Since the market remains oversupplied and given the downside risks associated with the extremely fragile recovery, the conference once again agreed to leave current production levels unchanged for the time being," OPEC said in the closing statement.
"While there are signs that economic recovery is on the way, there remained grave concern about the magnitude and pace of this recovery, especially in the major industrialised nations of the OECD," it said.
OPEC, whose 12 members pump 40 per cent of the world's oil, agreed in late 2008 to remove a massive 4.2 million barrels of daily output from the market.
The cartel's official daily output quota has stood at 24.84 million barrels per day since January.
