OPEC not losing sleep over high oil price

By Alex Lawler and Peg Mackey

ABU DHABI, Dec 6 (Reuters) - OPEC oil ministers are resting easy with oil around $86 a barrel, satisfied they have met consumers' fuel requirements and benefiting from a near record price they have no power over, officials said on Thursday.

While voicing concern over a surge in prices to almost $100 last month, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, at a meeting on Wednesday, rebuffed consumer calls to pump more crude.

"We're concerned about the price, but we're not losing sleep over it," said an OPEC insider.

"There was a time when we thought $60, $70 a barrel was too high. But now we can't control the price. What we can do is what we're good at -- keeping the market well supplied."

The group, which pumps about 40 percent of the world's oil, decided to keep output steady despite calls from the United States and other consumers to boost production. OPEC meets again on Feb. 1 in Vienna.

Oil hit a record high of $99.29 late last month, driven by an influx of fund money and a weak U.S. dollar. It has since fallen about $13, partly due to rising inventories of oil products in top consumer the United States.

OPEC has sought to avoid letting prices rise too high to avoid destroying demand.

But ministers, in saying their sway over prices has been lost, recalled what happened after they met in September and agreed to boost supplies by 500,000 barrels a day from November -- only for prices to continue rising.