OPEC chief wants 'substancial' cut in output Agence France-Presse

Published: Saturday October 18, 2008





Print This Email This ALGIERS (AFP)  OPEC will need to order a "substantial" cut in oil output at next week's emergency meeting in Vienna, Algerian Energy Minister and current OPEC chief Chakib Khelil said Saturday.



"There will be a reduction in production at the next extraordinary meeting of OPEC, and it will have to be a substantial one to get the balance right between supply and demand," he told reporters.



"If it has to be 1.5 million barrels per day, or two million barrels per day, that's what it will be," Khelil added, during a visit to the southern Algerian province of Tamanrasset.



Iran -- OPEC's second largest exporter -- also called Saturday for a significant cut amid prospects of reduced demand in the face of the global economic slowdown, the state broadcaster reported.



OPEC has announced it will hold an extraordinary meeting earlier than expected next Friday -- instead of in November -- to discuss the global financial crisis and its impact on the oil market.



Oil prices had reached a peak of 147 dollars a barrel earlier this year but slumped below 70 dollars on Thursday for the first time in more than a year.



Prices rebounded above 71 dollars a barrel on Friday on speculation that OPEC could cut production at the emergency meeting, traders said.



