December 03, 2006	Sunday	Ziqa'ad 11, 1427

TEHRAN, Dec 2: Iran's Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said Opec may cut its crude production again if the prices fall, Iran's student news agency ISNA reported on Saturday.

Asked if there was a possibility of Opec decreasing its output again in its next meeting, Hamaneh said: There is such a possibility if the prices fall ISNA reported.

This cannot be predicted right now, Hamaneh said.

Earlier a senior Iranian oil official said oil prices will rise in December as European and American markets feel the effects of the Opec production cut, semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

Opec has already cut its crude production ceiling by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in November to stop a decline in crude prices, but the market has not bounced significantly.

The oil prices will increase in December as the markets in northwestern Europe and America will feel the effects of Opec production cut, Hojjatollah Ghanimfard, international affairs director of National Iranian Oil Company said.

Those markets will recognise the production cut effects in December because it takes 45 days for an oil shipment to get there, Ghanimifard was quoted by Mehr as saying.

Iran, Opec's second crude producer after Saudi Arabia, has said it has decreased its oil production by 176,000 bpd as its part of the total Opec production cut, but Hamaneh said some countries may have not been as committed to their pledges.

The 1.2 million bpd cut has been announced officially, but it seems like some countries have not implemented that decision and lowered their production less (than they should), Hamaneh said.

The ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meet again on Dec. 14 and several have voiced support for another cut.-

CAIRO: Kuwait's energy minister said on Saturday he did not believe a 100 million-barrel excess in global fuel inventories was too big.

I don't think that is too much, Sheikh Ali al-Jarrah al-Sabah told reporters in the Egyptian capital Cairo.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi has said the world oil market is “significantly” out of balance because of high fuel stockpiles and that 100 million barrels should be removed.--Reuters