Libya questions December oil cuts

TRIPOLI, Libya, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- December may be too early for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Counties ministers to decide on production cuts, a Libyan oil official says.

OPEC members cut production by 1.5 million barrels a day in October to prop up prices as world demand has fallen in a time of floundering economies. Recently, OPEC President Chakib Khelil said the oil producers' target prices for was $70 to $90 per barrel, the Mediterranean Basin Newsline reported.

But Shukri Ghanem, chief executive officer of the Libyan National Oil Corp., appeared to disagree, the news service said, claiming it was too early to cut production again.

"These days we can see the market jittering up and down," Ghanem said. "So to take a decision to cut quickly is maybe premature. So we are not, at this point in time, thinking of more cuts but, of course, we are watching the market."

Recently, oil has been trading at about $60 to $65 a barrel.

"I think if this trend continues, of course, many projects are going to be scrapped and in two years we are going to be facing a real shortage in supplies and that will drive the prices as it did this year," Ghanem said.