OPEC to Cut Oil Production

Voice of America, December 28, 2001

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has decided to cut its total production by 1.5 million barrels a day for the next six months in an effort to stop the global decline in oil prices. Oil ministers from OPEC member nations confirmed the agreement during an emergency meeting Friday in Cairo, Egypt. The cartel says the production cuts will extend from January first until June 30 of next year.

OPEC wants to lift oil prices from the current level of about $19 per barrel to what the oil cartel considers to be the desired range of $22 to $28.

Oil prices rose Thursday in anticipation of the OPEC announcement. The oil cartel said in November it would cut production, but it waited until non-OPEC producers agreed to cut their output by 500,000 barrels a day. So far, pledges by major non-cartel members, including Russia, Norway and Mexico, amount to about 450,000 barrels a day.

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