Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- The global crude oil market is “very comfortable” and it is unlikely that OPEC would increase production quotas significantly, Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, Qatar’s energy minister, told reporters today in Singapore.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is assessing the market situation and there will be “no dramatic change” in output when the group meets next month, he said after attending a signing ceremony for a new chemicals joint venture with Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

“There’s no shortage of supply,” al-Attiyah told reporters. He declined to comment specifically if OPEC would increase output quotas at its next meeting.

OPEC, responsible for 40 percent of the world’s crude supplies, will meet on Dec. 22 in Luanda, Angola, to discuss production targets. The compliance rate after record output cuts announced last year has slipped to 64 percent, Secretary-General Abdalla El-Badri said last month, from 89 percent in March.

The 11 members of the group bound by the quotas produced 26.31 million barrels a day in October, 1.47 million barrels a day above its target.

Crude oil for December delivery traded at $78.68 a barrel, down 37 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 1:49 p.m. Singapore time. Prices have gained 77 percent this year because of a weaker dollar and signs of recovery in the global markets.

OPEC won’t need to raise oil production levels when it meets next month in Angola because stockpiles are “very high,” Hasan Qabazard, the group’s head of research said yesterday.

OPEC made a record 4.2 million barrel-a-day cut in production last year as fuel demand tumbled during the worst recession since the 1930s. The group has left production targets unchanged at its three meetings this year.

The International Energy Agency cut its long-term forecast for global oil demand as the economic crisis saps consumption in developed economies and environmental policies encourage alternative energy use.

Global oil demand is expected to increase an average 1 percent a year to 105 million barrels a day by 2030 from 85 million barrels a day in 2008, the adviser to 28 nations said yesterday in its annual World Energy Outlook. The figure is below last year’s 2030 estimate of 106 million barrels a day. Consumption may rise by as little as 0.2 percent a year if additional climate change policies are adopted, it said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dinakar Sethuraman in Singapore at dinakar@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 11, 2009 01:14 EST