OPEC oil ministers expressed optimism about their strategy of pumping more crude oil and fighting for market share, amid expectations they will stick to their production target when they meet at the end of the week.

Russian oil output remained unchanged in May at a post-Soviet high of 10.71 million barrels per day (bpd), Energy Ministry data showed on Tuesday, three days before OPEC meets to decide on output levels.

The top oil officials of Iraq and Venezuela said on Wednesday that $75 to $80 a barrel was now a "fair" price for oil, reflecting an emerging consensus on a possible equilibrium for volatile markets.

OPEC, which controls a third of the global oil market, and Russia, which produces another 12 percent, are unlikely to reverse their output strategy.

OPEC supply is expected to increase by 0.2-0.3 million barrels per day (bpd) between now and end-3Q2015, analysts of the US JP Morgan bank said in a report, obtained by Trend.

More than $100bn of spending on new projects by the world’s energy companies has been slowed, postponed or axed following the oil price plunge, evidence of the drastic industry action that will curb output in coming years.

The rebound in oil prices has wide-reaching implications. For one, it certainly affects the situation in Russia and the Ukraine. As the price of oil stabilizes, the Russian government has become more comfortable with its fiscal situation, despite the fact that low oil prices and Western sanctions have sunk the country into a recession that will likely last through next year.

Venezuela is pushing for a new agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC nations to stabilize oil prices, President Nicolas Maduro said on Friday, in the most serious indication yet of a renewed drive to boost prices back to $100 per barrel.

As Saudi Arabia pumps more and more crude, creating a glut in global supplies, US producers recently have begun to curtail oil production as prices plummeted. The cost of production for US shale producers is significantly higher than for conventional production in Saudi Arabia and in other OPEC countries, which gives those producers an advantage at a time of sagging oil prices.

Despite slowing US output of light tight oil, global oil supply growth remained at a steep 3.2 million barrels per day (mb/d) year-on-year in April.