The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided to hold out against further production cuts at today’s meeting, and resolved to enforce compliance with existing reductions.

Obviously dealing with crude oil ($wtic: chart) production is a double edged sword.  Cut production in an effort to drive up prices, and you risk cutting demand even further in these fragile economic times.  Leave production alone and prices could fall further, cutting the economic incentive to bolster reserves.

OPEC has claimed that crude oil prices in the range of $50 to $60/bbl would be ideal, which is down from the $70-90 range that OPEC’s secretary general Abdalla el-Badri levied as appropriate at the end of January.

One positive aspect of a lower price range is that production with higher lifting costs will be shut in, further helping moderate the industry financials as s whole.

The next meeting is in two months on May 28th where the supply-demand analysis may be a bit more clear.

Oil & Gas crude oil, energy markets, energy prices, OPEC

Speaking during a Personal MarketWatch interview with senior columnist Chuck Jaffe, Bernard Horn, who runs Polaris Global Value Fund, indicated that companies like Chevron and Chesapeake Energy, while great companies, are not necessarily the stocks to own right now.

His rationale was that the energy stocks in particular, but also the metals stocks, are valued at unsustainable levels of crude and ore prices.

I’ve never been one to consider myself greedy, and this short blurb from MarketWatch.com got me thinking as to whether or not I should start parsing my portfolio of energy.

I’m a firm believer that oil is going to $100 per barrel, if not a bit higher. But I’d rather leave a little money on the table than be taken to the cleaners.

What do you think. Is it time to sell energy stocks?

Investing, Market Trends, Oil & Gas crude, energy prices, energy stocks, oil