OPEC’s top official says Saudis didn’t make oil output threat

VIENNA (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia didn’t threaten to increase its oil production if other members wouldn’t agree to make cuts at the OPEC meeting last week in Vienna, said the group’s top official.

“Their contributions as usual were constructive” at talks with other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna last week, Mohammed Barkindo said Friday.

OPEC held technical talks at its Vienna headquarters on Oct. 28 aimed at finalizing the details of the Algiers agreement to curb output. The meeting ended without reaching a deal on quotas for individual members. That prevented an accord with non-OPEC members the following day.

Oil extended losses earlier Friday after Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia threatened to raise output if other members didn’t agree to cuts. West Texas Intermediate crude traded 16 cents, or 0.4%, lower at 2:43 p.m. London time, having earlier lost as much as 2.4%.