(Recasts, updates with further comments)

By Jose Llangari

QUITO, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Monday there was no need for OPEC to increase oil output and he predicted prices would stay at around $100 per barrel due to high production costs and world economy worries.

"We don't think it is necessary to increase output," Ramirez told reporters during a visit to Ecuador's capital, Quito, in reference to the cartel's next meeting.

"We have enough oil in the market ... we see current prices fair to producing nations."

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meets next on Feb. 1 in Vienna.

He later told Reuters that the "times of cheap oil are over," and that he expects world prices to stay at current levels or around $100 per barrel.

Ramirez said high oil prices were due to concerns over the U.S. economy, growing geopolitical tensions and an increase in production costs.

Oil prices tumbled more than $3 to around $95 a barrel on Monday as unseasonably warm weather and worries of a looming recession in the United States outweighed fresh tensions between Washington and Iran. (Reporting by Jose Llangari; writing by Alonso Soto; Editing by David Gregorio)