>Crude up at 6-Mo high on OPEC rollover

London - Crude oil futures rose to fresh six-month highs Thursday in London after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries left its output targets unchanged at a summit in Vienna.

In a decision largely expected by the market, OPEC - which produces 40% of the world's crude - cited the state of the global economy as a reason for leaving its production policy unchanged.

Despite some recent positive economic indicators, "the world is nevertheless still faced with weak industrial production, shrinking world trade and high unemployment; for this reason, the conference decided to maintain current production levels unchanged," OPEC said in a press release.

At 1154 GMT, the front-month July Brent contract on London's ICE futures exchange was up $0.28 at $62.78 a barrel, after touching the highest level in six months at $63.08 a barrel.

The front-month July contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading $0.05 higher at $63.48 a barrel after earlier hitting a six-month high at $63.93 a barrel.

The ICE's gasoil contract for June delivery was up $7.75 at $495.25 a metric ton, while Nymex gasoline for June delivery was down 177 points at 187.40 cents a gallon.

The recent rally in oil prices is enough to satisfy OPEC members and they "don't want to endanger pushing economies that are still unsteady," by embarking on new cuts, said David Hart, an analyst at Hanson Westhouse in London.

"It's a pretty pragmatic move on their part...[a cut] would have been effectively putting more strain on those economies" trying to get out of recession, he said.

Last year, OPEC embarked on a series of production cuts to reduce oil supplies by 4.2 million barrels a day. The cuts have helped to shore up oil prices, which are 40% higher since the start of 2009.

In the wake of Thursday's meeting, OPEC officials pledged to raise compliance to the 2008 cuts in a bid to counteract oversupply.

Francisco Blanch, head of global commodities research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London, warned economic uncertainties and high inventories were still a risk for OPEC.

"The market is steadily but surely coming into balance and obviously they're happy about it...[but] September will be a different environment and maybe we will get a different response there," Blanch said. OPEC's next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 9 in Vienna.

Separately, oil market participants are also looking ahead to the U.S. Department of Energy inventory report, due at 1500 GMT. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expect the DOE to report a 500,000 barrel decline in crude oil stocks, a 1.7 million barrel fall in gasoline inventories and a 1.1 million barrel rise in distillate supplies.

Source: COMMODITIESCONTROL