World oil prices firm

It was packing maximum sustained winds near 50 mph (85 km/hr) with higher gusts.
US energy major ExxonMobil has started evacuating “non-essential� personnel from some offshore oil production facilities expected to be in Dolly’s path, but the company said there had been limited impact on production thus far.
Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell have also moved non-essential staff from their operations in the western part of the Gulf of Mexico.
Investors are also watching closely for any developments in the Iran nuclear talks aimed at getting Tehran to halt its uranium enrichment programme, dealers said.
Weekend talks in Geneva made little progress and Iran has two weeks to respond seriously to an international offer to halt its sensitive nuclear work, which the US and other major powers suspect is for making weapons.
Tehran insists its uranium enrichment programme is for civilian purposes.
Iran, the number two oil producer in OPEC, reaffirmed on Tuesday that it was against any hike in the cartel’s output quota despite continued high crude prices.
“The market is in a good situation,� Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari told reporters in Tehran on the sidelines of a petrochemical conference.
“In the next OPEC meeting we are heading towards winter. I think that preserving the current situation is the most appropriate one,� he added.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries was scheduled to hold its next regular meeting on September 9 in Vienna, where OPEC is headquartered.