OPEC Likely to Cut Production in Oran, Not in Cairo

By Ahmed Rouaba and Glen Carey

Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- OPEC, supplier of more than 40 percent of the world's oil, is likely to cut production at its summit in Oran, Algeria, next month and may not lower output at its meeting in Cairo on Nov. 29, the group's president said.

``We aren't likely to take a decision in Cairo,'' Chakib Khelil, who is also Algeria's energy minister, told reporters today in Algiers. ``In Oran, we will have enough information to make a decision. There we will decide to cut.''

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries plans to meet in the Egyptian capital to discuss oil markets and halt a slide in prices after crude oil touched $54.67 a barrel, a 21- month low, on Nov. 13. The 13-member organization cut production by 1.5 million barrels a day at a meeting in Vienna last month.

The meeting in Cairo will ``asses the market situation and collect information from member countries,'' Khelil said. ``The current price of oil is low, but it can't remain low always. We believe prices should be between $70 and $90 a barrel.''

The Cairo summit, originally intended for only the group's Arab members, was upgraded to a full OPEC meeting on Nov. 13. The producer group was originally scheduled to meet next on Dec. 17 in Oran.

Market Expectation

OPEC members were expected to announce plans in Cairo to lower supply for the third time in as many months to prevent prices plunging toward $50 a barrel, according to 17 of 18 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Fourteen of the analysts predict the reduction will be 1 million barrels a day or more.

The International Energy Agency last week cut its world oil-demand estimate for 2030 by 10 million barrels a day, to 106 million barrels a day, because of high prices and slower growth, in a summary of its annual World Energy Outlook.

The Paris-based IEA, a policy adviser to oil-importing nations, expected prices to rebound and to average $100 a barrel between now and 2015 over concerns that the output of mature oilfields speeds up, causing a ``supply crunch'' in the next decade.

Saudi Arabia, the biggest OPEC producer, will help alleviate global financial stress by maintaining stable oil markets and boost its own economy by funding infrastructure projects, King Abdullah said in Washington yesterday.

``We will continue to fulfill our role in ensuring the stability of the oil market,'' Abdullah said in a statement after a five-hour summit with the Group of 20 leaders. ``Saudi Arabia has made many sacrifices, including maintaining costly additional productive capacity amounting to about 2 million barrels per day.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Ahmed Rouaba in Algiers through the London newsroom at +44- arouaba@bloomberg.net; Glen Carey in Dubai at gcarey8@bloomberg.net.