DOHA, QATAR -- OPEC ministers decided yesterday to maintain current production levels at least until the end of July, the president of the oil cartel said. Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah told reporters initially the 11-country cartel would preserve its output level until its next scheduled meeting in September. But he later said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will hold a special meeting July 31 to reassess the situation.

"Then we will have some options -- either to cut production or not. That is what we need to decide," al-Attiyah said.

Al-Attiyah, also oil minister of Qatar, said the July meeting would look at the impact of Iraq's return to the oil market.

Oil prices initially moved slightly lower in the wake of the announcement, but were trading higher for the day by early afternoon in New York.

Before the decision was made, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said he expected OPEC to maintain current output "for two to three months." Venezuelan deputy oil minister Luis Vierma said he thought OPEC might be able to keep the present production ceiling of 25.4 million barrels a day until the end of the year.

The OPEC ministers also pleaded for greater self-discipline, urging member states to stop exceeding production quotas.

"The conference decided to maintain currently agreed production levels with stricter compliance of designated quotas," OPEC spokesperson Omar Farouk Ibrahim told reporters.

Attracted by high prices, member states have been exceeding their quotas and have oversupplied the market by an estimated 1.5 million barrels a day, to a total of 26.9 million barrels daily.

The oil minister of the United Arab Emirates, Obaid bin Saif al-Nasseri, called for members to respect quotas.

"The market is comfortable, but we should think ahead to the third quarter," which begins July 1, al-Nasseri said Tuesday.

"OPEC must be very careful in handling Iraq's return," Iranian oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said.

Iraq, which was excluded from OPEC's quota schedule during the 12 years of UN sanctions, says it hopes to export one million barrels a day by the end of June and two million barrels a day by the end of the year.

Analysts say that is too optimistic in view of the state of Iraq's oil industry, which suffered war damage, postwar looting, a chronic shortage of spare parts during the sanctions period. Before the war began in March, Iraq pumped around 2.5 million barrels a day.

Members of the 11-country cartel differed over when Iraq was expected to resume oil exports, and when the OPEC would need to curb production in order to accommodate Iraqi supplies.

"The pace and the extent of the return of Iraqi crude to the market remain unclear," al-Attiyah said.

Kuwait's acting oil minister, Sheik Ahmad Fahd al-Ahmad, said Iraq needed until September to raise its production to two million barrels a day, and that OPEC production could remain unchanged until then.

"From now until September, Iraq will need (to do) a lot to reach the level of production," Sheik Ahmad said.