Opec to cut oil production, says Iranian minister

OPEC is to cut crude production at its extraordinary meeting on January 17, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh says.

He told Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency: "Iran believes the OPEC's output should be reduced. The rest of the (OPEC) members hold the same view too, but with a little difference as regards to the level of the reduction."

OPEC has increased production four times over the past year in order to bring prices down from more than $30 a barrel. European nations and the United States have pressed hard for more oil to be put on the market.

Mr Zanganeh would not specify the size of the proposed output cut, but his top aide Hussein Kazempour Ardebili said on Saturday that OPEC should cut at least 1.5 million barrels a day to restore stability to the oil market.

Mr Ardebili said: "Despite the return of the OPEC oil price to (over) $22 a barrel, the member states of the organisation would not show any doubt with respect to a production cut when they meet in Vienna."

A relatively mild European winter and replenished crude inventories prompted a more than 25% drop in international oil prices over the past month.

But prices have climbed in recent days along with confidence the 11-member cartel will decide a production cut during its meeting in Vienna.