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Oil prices are "comfortable" and there is no change in production strategy, OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem El-Badri said Sunday, despite the giant BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Current prices are comfortable," the head of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said in Brussels, on the eve of a meeting with European Union officials.

"I don't see any change in the production, I don't see any meeting coming before the set up meeting in October," he added.

Despite desperate efforts, BP is still not capturing all of the 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil estimated to be spilling into the sea every day, saying it is managing to contain around 25,000 barrels a day.

Nevertheless El-Badri said there was a lot of oil on the market, and urged OPEC nations to exercise more discipline.

US reserves continued to increase during May, topping the five-year average by 86 million barrels.

The OPEC chief also stressed that BP, despite its woes and the bad publicity that has come with it, is too big to be driven into bankruptcy by the accident.

Shares in BP crashed close to a 14-year low point on Friday after the group ramped up the costs of the oil spill so far to 2.35 billion dollars (1.9 billion euros).

On Saturday US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron agreed that BP should "remain a strong and stable company".

Oil prices leaped on Friday as the market fretted about global supply with rough weather in the Caribbean Sea threatening to develop into a hurricane in the oil-producing Gulf of Mexico.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for August delivery, surged to 78.86 dollars a barrel, a gain of 2.35 dollars from Thursday's close.

Analysts see the weather as a major factor, with the market keeping a watchful eye on signs of a brewing tropical storm that could wreak havoc on the oil companies operating in the Gulf and could interrupt BP's oil spill response.

AFP/fa