OPEC considering production cuts

The president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said that production cuts would be considered in unofficial meetings in Cairo this week.

Chakib Khelil, president of OPEC and the Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines, said Saturday's meetings would have crude oil production cuts on the agenda, the Kuwait News Agency reported Wednesday.

OPEC trimmed production by 1.5 million barrels a day in October in an effort to prop up oil prices, which have fallen to under $50 a barrel recently, down from a high of $147.27 a barrel in July.

Recently comments by some OPEC ministers favor another production cut, the news agency said. Data suggests the world is oversupplied by over one million barrels a day, KUNA reported.

The average basket price -- an average involving many product blends -- came to $100 in 2008, up from $69 in 2007, the news agency said.

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