Crude oil futures fell today after officials from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries hinted there was no plan for further production cuts.
ICE Brent futures for January delivery dropped 27 cents to $61.25 a barrel in mid-morning trade. January West Texas Intermediate slipped 10 cents to $60.92 a barrel in electronic trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
OPEC, which produces over a third of the world's oil, will hold talks tomorrow to decide whether to curb supplies beyond the 1.2 million barrels per day ministers agreed from November 1st.
"I don't think there will be any cut," the head of Libya's delegation, Shokri Ghanem, said today.
There is consensus in the group the market is oversupplied - crude oil stocks in top consumer the United States are at a 13-year high - but some ministers fear cutting output again now, during peak demand, could drive prices further above $60.
US Energy Secretary Sam Bodman and International Energy Agency head Claude Mandil have called on OPEC to wait until next year before deciding on further supply reductions.
OPEC's core Gulf members, including leading exporter Saudi Arabia, are among those who favour holding fire, a delegate said. They want to see OPEC focus on its existing agreement.
"No cut, compliance - this is the view up until now from the Gulf members," the delegate said. OPEC's research director Hasan Qabazard concurred that if members abided by the deal they struck in Qatar in October, that should do the job of restoring equilibrium.
"If we achieve the cuts agreed in Doha, the market will more or less be in balance," he said.
The IEA, adviser to 26 industrialised countries, said in its monthly report today OPEC cuts from November 1st were making themselves felt, "cold comfort for a risk-prone global economy already facing another winter with high oil prices".