OPEC NOT AGREED

OPEC nations have yet to decide to cut their collective oil-production target, the United Arab Emirates' energy minister said, days after the group's chief suggested its 12 members may lower the ceiling in 2015.

"It's not a one-man decision," Suhail Al Mazrouei told reporters today in Abu Dhabi. "It's a decision by all the ministers when we meet."

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, supplier of about 40 percent of the world's oil, will review its target of 30 million barrels a day when it meets next on Nov. 27 at its Vienna headquarters. The group may reduce its official daily limit by 500,000 barrels to 29.5 million next year, OPEC Secretary-General Abdalla El-Badri said Sept. 16.

OPEC's monthly report on Sept. 10 showed demand for its oil will decline to 29.2 million barrels a day in 2015 from 29.5 million this year. Brent crude, a global benchmark, has dropped 10 percent this year and was at $97.23 a barrel at 7:02 a.m. today in London.

"We still have almost two months before the next meeting," Al Mazrouei said. "We will make sure that our supply meets demand." The group's decision "will be made based on what's required from OPEC," he said, emphasizing that suppliers outside the group also "have a responsibility" to help balance the market.

OPEC's members are Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

bloomberg.com