Opec

There is "no way" OPEC will cut production when the group meets again in September, Kuwait's oil minister said, after the supplier of about 40% of the world's oil left output quotas unchanged last week. "We're not in favor to see the prices in the hundreds because this will fuel recession again," Sheik Ahmed al Abdullah al Sabah told reporters Sunday in Kuwait City. "We have to give the world economy more time" to recover from its worst recession since World War II.

OPEC oil ministers said Sunday that they would stick to present output levels but seek to end overproduction by some members. The decision means there will be no cutbacks from production levels established in December. It also translates into pressure on members of the 12-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries that are exporting more oil than their quotas.

The huge oil production cut announced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will not happen for one very simple reason: Oil is almost their only source of revenue. ("Oil prices fall despite OPEC cut," Dec. 18.) When thinking about Saudi Arabia, Libya, Iran and the rest, "diversified economy" is not a phrase that immediately comes to mind. Without a Plan B, they have to pump all the oil they can sell, regardless of the price they get for it. Miles R. Wickstrom Vernonia, Ore. -- Now that oil has come to a more reasonable price and gasoline prices have become more affordable, let us hope the public will retain some of their gas-saving habits.

They must have been out of kitchen sinks in Algeria on Wednesday because OPEC threw everything else to try to halt the unprecedented slide in oil prices, pledging to cut production a record 2.2 million barrels a day on top of two previous reductions since September and issuing an invitation to Russia, the world's No. 2 oil exporter, to play along. It didn't work. January oil futures dipped below $40 a barrel for the first time in more than four years, trading as low as $39.

Crude oil futures surged more than 10% Thursday to flirt with $50 a barrel as the dollar's value slipped against the euro and OPEC officials threatened production cuts. Their words were buttressed by indications that Russia might work with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to rein in supplies and boost prices. January crude climbed as high as $49.12 before closing at $47.98 a barrel, up $4.

Ministers from OPEC member nations decided Saturday to delay until December a decision on cutting production to stem the decline of crude oil prices that have tumbled by more than 60% in recent months. The meeting came as the global financial crisis and plummeting demand continued to suppress oil prices, which have dropped to about $54 from nearly $150 a barrel in July.

Oil prices ended flat Friday, with OPEC officials sending mixed messages about a production cut before a meeting in December. Meanwhile, gasoline prices continued their free fall and are now at levels not seen since Jan. 21, 2005 -- good news for travelers heading home after Thanksgiving getaways. Pump prices fell a penny overnight to a national average of $1.835 a gallon for self-serve regular, according to the American Automobile Assn., the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express.

As oil edged closer to $60 a barrel in New York futures trading Monday, the Energy Department said that pump prices continued an unprecedented free fall from their all-time highs recorded this past summer. The price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline fell a further 25.8 cents over the last week to a national average of $2.656, marking the first time all year that the price dropped below 2007 levels, according to the Energy Department's weekly survey of filling stations.

OPEC controls 40% of the world's oil production, but Friday the cartel was just one more hoarse voice on the trading floor, straining to be heard above the din of another day of steep stock market declines. After an emergency gathering in Vienna, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries announced plans to cut production by 1.5 million barrels a day in a bid to stabilize prices. Light, sweet crude, the U.S.

With crude oil prices falling about 40% since their mid-July peak, OPEC said it would hold a meeting in Vienna on Nov. 18 to discuss the effects of the global financial crisis. The conference could lead to a coordinated production cut in an effort to halt crude's steep losses, analysts said. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries hinted that such a decision might be coming, saying it would work "to ensure that oil market fundamentals are kept in balance and market stability is maintained."