Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) -- OPEC doesn't need to increase oil production when it meets next week because supply is adequate, ministers from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq said.

``I don't see the need for more,'' Qatar's Energy Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah said in an interview in Davos, Switzerland, today after meeting with his U.A.E. counterpart Mohamed al-Hamli. ``The market is well balanced.''

``We have to be cautious that demand usually drops in the second quarter and there are risks from a slowdown in the U.S. economy,'' al-Attiyah said.

Al-Hamli also said the market is ``well balanced.''

Ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will meet in Vienna on Feb. 1 to set production targets after a 12 percent tumble in prices since oil reached a record $100.09 a barrel on Jan. 3. Demand for OPEC's oil typically declines in the second quarter, following the end of the peak winter heating season in the Northern Hemisphere.

Crude oil for March delivery rose $1.02, or 1.2 percent, to $88.01 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 2:03 p.m. London time, partly on expectations that OPEC won't heed consumer calls to boost supply.

Studying Price Collapse

The head of the International Energy Agency, Nobuo Tanaka, today reiterated calls made earlier this week by U.S. officials that OPEC should add supply to moderate prices.

``They have to replenish the stock draws that have happened already,'' and may be exacerbated by further outages in Nigeria or colder U.S. weather, Tanaka said in an interview in Davos, where energy officials were among those attending the World Economic Forum. ``The tightness of the market is still there.''

Kuwait's acting oil minister, Mohammed al-Aleem, didn't venture an opinion on production targets and said OPEC would study the causes of the oil price collapse.

``The market is almost in balance,'' al-Aleem said in an interview today in Davos. ``OPEC will meet in the next few days to study all aspects of the market from a supply/demand standpoint and taking into consideration the retreat that we saw.''

Asked whether OPEC would in fact consider cutting supply, rather than increasing, Qatar's al-Attiyah said: ``All options are on the table, it's too early to talk about a cutback.''

OPEC `Prudent' on Economy

``I don't get the sense OPEC's going to go full-speed ahead with a production increase,'' said David Kirsch, manager of the oil markets group at energy adviser PFC Energy in Washington. ``The uncertain economic outlook in the U.S. and very uncertain demand projections argues for a prudent approach to any output decision.''

Nigeria's central bank governor, Charles Chu-Kwuma Soludo, said yesterday in Davos that any effort to raise supply would be limited by existing constraints. Militant attacks have curbed oil exports from the African nation over the past two years.

``If there is a decision by OPEC to increase, Nigeria will abide by the decision, but you can only increase production by a certain extent because of supply constraints,'' Soludo said. ``In the case of Nigeria and in many cases, we are not even up to the quota.''

Iraq has little sway over OPEC policy because it is the only member of the 13-nation group that is not bound by quotas.

``I don't think there is any need of extra production'' from OPEC, Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said in an interview in Davos today. ``There is no shortage of crude oil in the market.''

The U.A.E., Kuwait, Nigeria, Qatar and Iraq together account for about 32 percent of OPEC's December crude production of 32.1 million barrels a day, according to Bloomberg estimates. OPEC pumps more than 40 percent of the world's oil and the majority of oil exports.

To contact the reporters on this story: Maher Chmaytelli in Davos, Switzerland at mchmaytelli@bloomberg.netJuan Pablo Spinetto in Davos, Switzerland at at jspinetto@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 24, 2008 09:14 EST