CARACAS (AFP) - OPEC may decide to cut back production by 500,000 barrels a day to prop up plummeting oil prices, the incoming Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries general secretary was quoted Saturday as saying.
"We'll see what happens within the next 10 days," said Venezuela Energy Minister Ali Rodriguez Araque, who will assume the post of OPEC secretary general next month.
"If the price remains under $22 a barrel, production will be reduced by 500,000 barrels a day," Rodriguez was quoted by the local media as saying.
Crude prices remained depressed on Friday, with the OPEC basket price tumbling through a $22 floor for the first time in eight months.
In London, a barrel of Brent North Sea crude for February delivery remained flat during Friday's short trading session, bobbing around $23.70 dollars – 30% below average prices in the September-November period.
In Vienna, meanwhile, OPEC said its composite price of crudes, which it uses to help set production policy, fell to $21.64.
It was the first time for eight months that the basket price had fallen below the $22-$28 target band, a range which OPEC has referred to when deciding how much oil to pump to world markets.
Under an informal price-band mechanism set in March, the organization agreed to increase or decrease output by 500,000 barrels a day if the price stayed outside of the target band - above or below - for more than 20 days.
