OPEC producers are likely to agree a hefty cut in oil supplies when they meet this week to support prices near $25 a barrel, leading OPEC power Saudi Arabia said today.
Saudi Oil Minister Mr Ali al-Naimi wants to restore output discipline in the cartel by eliminating quota-busting and tightening supply to combat the impact of weak economic growth on oil demand.
He told reporters in London ahead of Thursday's meeting that support was growing in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut output and at the same time raise formal supply targets, made irrelevant in recent months by quota-busting.
Rampant leakage means actual OPEC supply outstripped self-imposed limits of 21.7 million barrels daily by 2.82 million (barrels per day) in October, according to latest data from the group's Vienna headquarters.
OPEC is more worried about a possible glut next year than the threat of a price rise if the United States attacks Iraq.
It will meet as a strike in Venezuela, in its ninth day today, brings exports from OPEC's third-largest supplier close to a standstill.