OPEC is hoping to avoid a slide in crude prices by cutting production later this month.
But experts say an agreement on who should reduce output by how much could prove hard to broker between member countries eager to preserve market share.
After days of uncertainty over the date of its next ministerial meeting, called earlier this month by president Mr Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, an official at the oil cartel's Vienna headquarters confirmed today the gathering had been scheduled for April 24th.
Ministers from 10 of the organisation's 11 mainly Arab member states are set to attend the meeting, with Iraq's seat likely to remain empty, another OPEC source said.
Both Mr al-Attiyah, who is Qatar's serving energy minister, and his Algerian counterpart, Mr Chakib Khelil, recently suggested that output would have to come down.
Mr Khelil called for OPEC members to begin strictly observing the cartel's current production quotas - which add up to a total 24.5 million barrels-a-day.
This would amount to a production cut of around two million barrels a day without touching the quotas, according to unnamed OPEC officials.
Today the benchmark Brent crude price dropped slightly to $28.52.
AFP