OPEC may call additional meeting to try to rally the oil market

[RB TexLa]

OPEC officials say ready to act again to boost oil

LONDON (Reuters) – OPEC ministers will take further steps to prop up the oil market and could call another meeting before the group's next scheduled talks in December, officials said on Tuesday.

In response to a nearly 60 percent fall in oil prices from a record of $147.27 hit in July, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed at an emergency meeting last week to cut production by 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd).

OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri said if prices continued to fall, OPEC would call another extra meeting.

"If circumstances dictate we have to have another meeting, we will have a meeting before the Algerian meeting," al-Badri said on the sidelines of a conference in London.

Attending the same conference, Libya's most senior oil official Shokri Ghanem said OPEC could need to reduce output further.

"Talking about the recent cut, we have to wait to see how the market behaves in the coming weeks ... If the price continues to deteriorate, it's going to affect everything," Ghanem said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081028/ts_nm/us_opec_2

[wvbygod]

1. Oh, those poor sheiks and billionaires

And how will hugo pay for his revolution and all those surplus Soviet weapons?