DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- OPEC is likely to keep cutting oil production to boost slacking prices but a U.S. energy official says the actual reduction won't reach OPEC goals.
Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries voted in October to cut production by 1.2 million barrels a day because of the 25 percent drop in oil prices since the $78 high in July.
But Guy Caruso, administrator of the Energy Information Administration, the U.S. Energy Department's data arm, expects only 800,000 barrels a day of the OPEC intention to be realized, TradeArabia.com reported earlier this week.
"This is largely based on the track record of promises of cuts," Caruso said in Dubai. "But we don't really have inside information of who is doing what."
Abdullah Al Attiya, the oil minister of Qatar, said a December meeting in Nigeria will result in another one million barrel a day cut in OPEC production. He warned of consumer nations building up fuel stocks and pushing the price down.
"We're entering a period when demand will rise, and then we come to a period in the second quarter of 2007 when demand will fall, although that's only temporary, and there we could expect a fall (in prices), especially in view of the arrival next year of (more) non-OPEC production," said Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil.
"Our view is that we need more OPEC oil in 2007 than what was produced in 2006," said Caruso. "So on a year-on-year basis we expect the market needs more OPEC oil."
OPEC's position is $60 a barrel of oil is the minimum optimal price.
