Algeria oil minister favours new OPEC cuts – paper

ALGIERS (Reuters) – OPEC will be taking a big risk if it does not make a further adjustment to oil supply, a newspaper quoted Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil as saying on Sunday.

“In my opinion we are taking a big risk if we do not re-adjust supply. It would be better, given the circumstances, not to take such risks,” Algeria’s Liberte newspaper quoted Khelil as saying.

OPEC, whose members pump more than a third of the world’s oil, have called a meeting for May 28 to assess whether fresh output cuts are needed to boost prices that have plummeted because of the global economic slowdown.

In separate comments broadcast on Algerian television late on Saturday, Khelil said he expected oil prices to fall further before the next OPEC meeting and then pick up later because of increased summer demand.

Reuters