World oil prices are steady today as dealers digest OPEC's surprise decision to raise formal output quotas -while promising to cut excess supply.
Benchmark Brent crude oil lost eight cents to at $24.25 a barrel; US crude stood at $26.55, down nine.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) ministers agreed yesterday to lift quotas by 900,000 barrels to day (bpd) to 25.4 million bpd for 10 member countries, excluding Iraq which halted exports ahead of the US-led war last month.
OPEC presented the deal as a cut of two million bpd from real output levels, which had soared above official quotas in the first few months of the year.
But analysts said OPEC's estimates of current production, and its figures for the promised cut, were confusing.
The cartel had sanctioned extra oil sales before the war on Iraq to prevent an oil price shock. Some OPEC members, particularly Saudi Arabia, had increased up supplies earlier to cover for hitches in Venezuela and Nigeria.