Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) -- OPEC, the supplier of more than 40 percent of the world’s oil, may not need to reduce output when it meets next month because crude prices are “firming up,” Libya’s top oil official said.

“A cut may be not necessary,” Shokri Ghanem, the chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corp, said in a phone interview from Tripoli today, commenting on a meeting that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries plans to hold on March 15 in Vienna to review output levels.

“Crude prices are firming up,” he said. “We expect a rebound soon.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Maher Chmaytelli in Nicosia at mchmaytelli@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 4, 2009 04:25 EST