OPEC Rejects Iranian Plan to Cut Back Production : * Energy: Instead, the cartel vows to retain current levels.

Turning back an effort by Iran to cut OPEC oil production, the cartel’s oil ministers pledged Friday to keep levels steady to support crude prices in May and June.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries rebuffed a demand by Iranian Oil Minister Gholamreza Aghazadeh for a deep supply cut to strengthen prices.

Prices have been stronger than normal lately, partly because of speculation of an oil embargo against Libya, which exports high-quality crude to Europe.

Since February, the cartel has reduced pumping by at least a million barrels a day to avert a severe price drop.

After a four-hour meeting, the producers agreed to maintain their current output ceiling of 22.98 million barrels a day during the remainder of spring, when demand normally falls.

“We are not having a free-for-all,” said Jibril Aminu, the Nigerian oil minister and president of the 13-nation cartel.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, has cut back the most this year, slicing at least 500,000 barrels off its output for a total of 8.1 million barrels a day.

Oil markets, which had widely anticipated the decision, had little reaction. Light, sweet crude oil for delivery in June finished 11 cents higher at $20.22 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The average price of an OPEC marker has been running a bit under $18 a 42-gallon barrel, still far off the group’s target of $21.

Prices for light, sweet crudes in Europe and the United States normally fetch several dollars a barrel more.

The United Nations Security Council last week imposed a series of measures against Libya, including a ban on air traffic, to try to get Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi to turn over two suspects in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

There is speculation that the West might step up the pressure by prohibiting oil sales. Libya produces about 1.4 million barrels of crude a day.

Indonesian Oil Minister Ginandjar Kartasasmita predicted that the group’s decision would maintain prices at present levels.

“I don’t see that they can go down or up dramatically,” he said.

Peter Bogin, associate director for oil markets at Cambridge Energy Research Associates in Paris, said, “OPEC has probably weathered the worst part of the storm.”