OPEC expected to cut output to boost prices

LONDON -- Alarmed by a relentless slide in oil prices, OPEC members are likely to agree to cut production by as much as 1.4 million barrels a day when the cartel's delegates meet next week, an OPEC official said Monday.

Such a cut would be up to 400,000 barrels a day larger than the potential reduction called for in recent weeks by members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

OPEC members are considering cutting output by 1.2 million to 1.4 million barrels a day, or 5 percent to 6 percent of their official production, said the OPEC official, speaking on condition of anonymity from the group's headquarters in Vienna, Austria.

Earlier, OPEC Secretary-general Ali Rodriguez earlier told reporters that cuts of more than 1 million barrels a day were a "possibility." Rodriguez, speaking in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, did not give the size of the possible cuts.

World crude prices have continued to weaken because of a sharp decrease in global economic activity, a slump compounded by the terror attacks on the United States.

On Friday, the price for OPEC's benchmark blend of seven crudes was $17.81 a barrel, down 30 percent from $25.56 a barrel on Sept. 10 -- the day before the attacks. OPEC had not yet compiled its benchmark price for Monday.

Representatives of OPEC's 11 member nations plan to meet Nov. 14 to assess market conditions and set production policy. OPEC, which produces about 40 percent of the world's crude, has announced cuts in output three times this year already.

Iraq, Venezuela and Qatar have taken the lead in calling for the group to curtail production further in hopes of buttressing prices.