OPEC oil ministers reached an informal agreement going into talks yesterday not to alter current crude output, Qatar’s oil minister said yesterday.

Speaking shortly before OPEC met for formal talks to decide production levels, Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah said despite the market being oversupplied, “prices are still around $70 a barrel.”

“At this price level, OPEC won’t cut production,” he added. “This is why we have decided to do nothing.”

He did not give details about how or when members reached the informal agreement, which would presumably be approved later yesterday.Venezuela has urged countries to consider a production cut, but many OPEC members have said they would not support such a move.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said there is an excess of oil on the world market and proposed a minimum price at $50 a barrel – an idea he has raised before but that OPEC has yet to put in place.

“There is enough oil on the market.We even believe there is an excess of oil on the market,”Mr.Chavez said in a speech. “$50 is a fair price, but as a minimum. That’s how we see it. … Let’s give it a $50 floor and search for equilibrium.”

He said the price “ceiling would be infinity.”

The Venezuelan president has long championed the idea of keeping oil prices high within OPEC. For the last two meetings Venezuela has called on member countries to cut production,but other countries have been unwilling.

Mr. Chavez said members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries have no intention of increasing their oil production despite demands from a number of industrialized nations. He said OPEC has worked to give stability to oil prices even as America moved to invade Iraq and threatens Iran and Venezuela.

The Venezuelan leader demanded that America pull its troops out of Iraq and “end the threats against the Iranian people.”

Also closely watched during the OPEC meeting was a separate meeting on Iran’s disputed nuclear program in Austria, where America, Russian, Chinese, and European officials were expected to agree on incentives to reward Iran if it gives up uranium enrichment.

Crude prices slipped yesterday and were hovering above $70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after Iran’s foreign minister welcomed the idea of direct talks with America over its nuclear program, but rebuffed the American condition that Tehran first must suspend uranium enrichment.

Mr. Chavez, a harsh and frequent critic of Washington, called President Bush a “threat to the world” and predicted his American “empire” would end within a century.

He criticized rich countries for complaining about high oil prices, saying OPEC’s role is to fight what he called “imperialism” and “colonialism.”

“We gave away oil for a century to quench the thirst of developed countries,” Mr. Chavez said.”There was never a drop of oil for the people.”

Iran’s oil minister, Sayed Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh, blamed America earlier for sky-high world prices, saying American threats against Iran’s nuclear program are driving a wave of speculation keeping petroleum above $70 a barrel.