VIENNA, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Kuwait's oil minister announced Wednesday the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will cut oil production by 3.5 percent.
The news came during an OPEC ministers meeting in Vienna, the Wall Street Journal reported. The move sent crude prices moving higher.
The cut would reduce the cartel's output ceiling by 900,000 barrels a day to 24.5 million barrels. Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheik Ahmad Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah confirmed the plan after the 11-member group broke for lunch following informal talks at OPEC headquarters.
"OPEC will cut 900,000 barrels a day from Nov. 1," he told reporters.
OPEC plans to meet again Dec. 4 to reassess the market, OPEC President Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah said.
OPEC ministers had signaled in the days before the meeting there would be no change in quotas, despite a 14 percent drop in oil prices so far in September and concerns oil inventories could grow by 600,000 barrels a day in the fourth quarter.
