OPEC may cut production in December

The Associated Press

OPEC may decide to cut production quotas at its December meeting if it decides the market is oversupplied, Venezuela’s oil minister said Nov. 27.

“In the case of oversupply, we could curb output,” Rafael Ramirez told reporters.

Ramirez’s remarks came three days after crude futures plunged 6 percent on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The drop followed an estimate released by tanker-tracking firm Petrologistics saying that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries appeared to be overproducing its output ceiling by 1 million barrels in November.

Prices rose but didn’t fully recover at the end of the short trading week Nov. 26, settling 2 percent higher at above US$30 a barrel on the Nymex.

OPEC meets Dec. 4 in Vienna, Austria.

Analysts and traders expect OPEC to admonish its members for overproducing but stop short of changing its output ceiling.

Still, traders and analysts are wary following the group’s surprise decision in late September to cut quotas by 3.5 percent to 24.5 million barrels a day.

Ramirez also reiterated Venezuela’s stance against an OPEC hike.