OPEC members prepare for crucial meeting

VIENNA, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- With global oil prices falling, the upcoming meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has a special significance, analysts said Tuesday.

OPEC representatives will meet in Vienna Thursday.

"OPEC meets in less than 72 hours for what might be the most important meeting for the group since the 2008-09 financial crisis," research analysts Energy Aspects said. "Any claims of advance knowledge about a cut and the size of any cut are a guesstimate at best."

At issue is a possible reduction in daily production, although incremental cuts or decreases in production by certain members could also take place. The meeting comes as oil prices have declined by 30 percent, since June, because of an increase in production by the United States, Libya and Iraq and slowing economies in China and Europe. The price of Brent crude oil, regarded as an international benchmark for the price of oil, has fallen from $105 per barrel in June to its present price of under $80.

"The U.S. economy is doing great but most everyone else is struggling, creating more downside than upside risks to growth. Global oil balances continue to confirm a rather large surplus in 2014," research firm PIRA Energy Group said.

OPEC's 12 members are Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Venezuela, Qatar, Libya, the UAE, Algeria, Nigeria, Ecuador, and Angola. Other oil producers, including the United States, Russia and Norway, are not members.