Most members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which pumps 40 percent of world oil, said the cartel should maintain its production level at its official meeting in the Austrian capital on Friday.
A freeze would be a snub to the United States, the world's biggest energy consumer, whose President George W.
Bush recently urged OPEC to hike output to help further reduce high oil prices that stunt economic growth and fuel inflation.
However, lower oil prices are not welcomed by crude producers as their income from exporting the commodity drops.
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"We have no option now" but to hold our output target of 29.67 million oil barrels, Qatar's Minister of Energy and Industry, Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, said on arrival in Vienna.
"We are very concerned about the world economy (...) The American economy will (influence) oil prices," he told reporters.
By Thursday, the price of oil had slumped by about 10 percent since New York crude struck a record high of 100.
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