Iran’s oil minister says the oil market is oversupplied by 2 million barrels per day after OPEC deferred a decision on a new output cut.

“Market assessments indicate that the market has around 2 million bpd of oversupply,” Gholam-Hossein Nozari told reporters in Tehran on Sunday.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed in a Saturday meeting in Cairo to defer a decision on whether to reduce production until the December 17 meeting in Oran.
“There was unanimity (in Cairo) that the market is oversupplied. The demand has sharply dropped because of the global economic recession,” Nozari said.
“In Algeria, we will have to make a decision to establish balance between supply and demand,” he added.
Oil prices have plunged by about two-thirds from a record high of above $147 a barrel due to falling demand and despite an October decision by OPEC to reduce output by 1.5 million bpd.
-------------- OPEC to ‘seriously consider’ output cut
Iran’s OPEC governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi says the group would ‘seriously consider’ an output cut in a December meeting in Algeria.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Khatibi said OPEC deferred a decision on a new supply cut as the output data for November had not been released yet.
A cut of 1.5 million barrels of oil per day, decided in OPEC’s October 24 summit, was effective from November 1.
“OPEC’s November output figures are not out yet. There are plans to seriously consider an output cut in Algeria,” Khatibi said on the sidelines of an international oil and gas conference in Tehran.
“When the figures are out there can be a much better decision made on an output cut,” he added.
In a statement after Saturday’s meeting, OPEC warned that oil demand would be ‘much lower’ than expected a month ago.
The group’s Secretary General, Abdalla Salem al-Badri called non-OPEC members Russia, Norway and Mexico to reduce production to help prevent prices from falling further.
He added that compliance with existing quotas was ‘not good enough’, based on current forecasts.
Analysts expect that OPEC will trim output by at least 1 million bpd by the end of the year.
(Source: Press TV)