OPEC may vote to cut oil output

<a href=www.canada.com>CanWest News Services Wednesday, April 30, 2003

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries may vote to cut output at a June 11 meeting should oil prices keep falling, said Alvaro Silva, the group's secretary-general.

OPEC members have been exceeding their output quotas this year to make up for production disruptions from members including Venezuela, Iraq and Nigeria. At a meeting last week in Vienna, the producers said they would rein in output starting June 1.

Crude oil for June delivery fell 25 cents, or one per cent, to $25.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest closing price since Nov. 13. Prices have plunged 37 per cent from a 12-year high of $39.99 reached on Feb. 27.

"We agreed there was too much oil on the market and took out two million barrels a day," Silva said in an interview.

The June reduction will be from the group's current output of "around 27 million barrels a day" for the 10 members with quotas, all but Iraq, Silva said.