OPEC Contemplates Production Cut

LONDON -- Concerned about a production glut that has sent fuel prices plummeting over the past six months, OPEC oil producers they would wait until an emergency meeting at the end of December to make a final decision on whether to proceed with output curbs in the new year.

In a statement from the cartel's Vienna headquarters OPEC confirmed ministers would meet in Cairo on December 28 to agree policy.

"OPEC welcomes the commitments to cut production by Norway and other non-OPEC producers but we will leave it to the meeting in Cairo to make the final decision," the statement said.

According to the latest Lundberg Survey of 8,000 convenience stores fuel prices nationwide have dropped more than 60 cents from $1.78 in June to approximately $1.10. London benchmark Brent crude oil last traded 14 cents higher at $19.20 a barrel while U.S. crude futures added five cents to $19.27.

Norway on Monday was the last non-OPEC supplier to announce the scale of its reductions, leaving five non-aligned nations just short of the 500,000 bpd target demanded by OPEC to trigger 1.5 million barrels daily of cartel cuts from January 1.

OPEC delegates said the group will not argue over the small shortfall, adding that the cartel was likely to forge ahead with the reductions.