Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries might agree to cut production at its special informal meeting tomorrow in Cairo. Opec’s Secretary-General Abdullah al Badri yesterday in Cairo said the oil market was oversupplied, and the group should exercise restraint in responding to the sharp fall in prices and slumpng demand.
“The market is oversupplied….We have to be patient, we should not panic,” Al Badri said. Both Venezuela and Libya, which are leading advocates in Opec of earlier action to support prices, have pushed for the producer group to decide quickly on an output cut of at least one million barrels per day. Analysts say an output cut is coming, although probably at a December meeting in Algeria rather than in Egypt next week. US weekly crude stocks rose by a hefty 7.3 million barrels last week, well above forecasts of an 800,000 barrel increase.
