Abundance of crude oil globally Saudi ambassador

WASHINGTON, Oct 4 (Reuters) There is an abundance of global crude oil supplies and the OPEC cartel will weigh swelling global inventories when it meets in December, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States said today.

''There is an abundance of production and counties have better managed to collect more oil for their inventories and meet their immediate needs,'' Saudi Ambassador Prince Turki Al-Faisal told the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

''OPEC will be meeting in a month or two to review these factors and we will discuss these things with countries like Venezuela and Nigeria,'' Al-Faisal said. He later clarified that he was referring to OPEC's next meeting scheduled for December in Nigeria.

Oil's 25-percent drop from its mid-July peak of 78.40 dollars prompted OPEC President Edmund Daukoru yesterday to call on other OPEC members to follow the lead set by Nigeria and Venezuela in trimming production. Kuwait's oil minister said today his country may also cut output if prices continue to drop.

But Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude oil exporter and the OPEC cartel's leading voice, has yet to weigh in on Daukoru's call for less OPEC oil.

Poorer nations are hit the hardest by high crude oil prices and ''It is our concern as well to try to bring down the price to a reasonable level to allow these countries to meet the challenges,'' Al-Faisal said.

However, Al-Faisal declined to say whether US crude oil futures, which hit a low of 57.75 dollars a barrel today, were at a ''reasonable'' level.

Reuters DKA GC2210