Naimi on Thursday refused to be drawn on the possibility that OPEC will announce a cut in its crude production at an emergency policy meeting here on Friday to decide how to shore up prices while the world heads into a recession. Asked by reporters what the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would decide at its meeting in Vienna on Friday, Naimi replied: “Who said anything about a cut?” OPEC hardliner Iran stepped up pressure on Thursday for a controversial cut to crude production with its oil minister Gholam Hossein Nozari calling for output to be slashed. “Two million will stabilize” the market, Nozari told reporters and Libya, Venezuela and Qatar have also called in recent days for a cut by OPEC. But Western leaders oppose such a move, with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently saying that any reduction made in a bid to push up oil prices would be “scandalous” at a time when major economies are close to recession. OPEC's Gulf state members led by Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, are expected to oppose any major production cuts, analysts said on Thursday. Kuwait's Oil Minister Mohammad Al-Olaim said OPEC must take the global financial crisis into account when deciding its action. “There is a surplus in the market... and sooner or later action should be taken anyway,” Olaim told reporters on Thursday before departing for Vienna. “(But) we are concerned about the financial crisis going on and I think any action should take into consideration the financial crisis.” Analysts expect the cartel to decide on a reduction of at least one million barrels per day. OPEC president Chakib Khelil, the Algerian energy minister, said Wednesday that the cartel, already suffering from the financial crisis, to be further hit by “very low” oil prices. But he said the group had to weigh the impact of a prospective output cut on both consumers and producers. OPEC produces 40 percent of the world's oil and its official output quota stands at 28.8 million barrels per day. Iran, the second-biggest OPEC exporter, wants a sizeable reduction in output. Crude priceshave plunged 56 percent from record highs of above $147 a barrel reached only three months ago. The Vienna meeting on the impact of the global financial crisis and looming recession on the oil market was originally planned for Nov. 18 but was brought forward as prices plunged.
