The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries essentially sat on its hands in the face of soaring oil prices by deciding to keep its output steady. But analysts say the cartel doesn't have much near-term leverage to push prices lower even if it wanted to.

In spite of slower oil-demand growth and rising inventories of crude around the globe, crude futures are hovering around US$68 a barrel because of supply fears linked to geopolitical uncertainty, such as Iran's nuclear standoff with the West and violence in oil-rich Nigeria.

"This is really a happy accident as far as Opec is concerned," Tim Evans, a senior energy analyst at IFR Energy Services said Tuesday

in New York.

While Opec has considerable power at the moment to establish a floor underneath prices by trimming output, analysts said the cartel runs the risk of becoming too confident that record prices won't harm it in the long run by stunting economic growth and sparking investment in alternative energy sources.

Evans said Opec's biggest producer, Saudi Arabia, could theoretically add another 1 million barrels per day to the market if it wanted to do everything in its power to help lower prices. But he is not convinced it would reverse the bullish market psychology.

"There is nothing close to a physical shortage going on here," said Evans, who noted that U.S. inventories of crude are 11 percent above year ago levels.