OPEC prez says market soft, may need Dec cut

INCHON, South Korea, Nov 5: OPEC President Edmund Daukoru warned on Sunday that the cartel may have to cut oil production again next month because the market was still ''soft''.

While many other OPEC members have also said a further reduction may be in order at its December meeting, Daukoru's comments are the latest to signal that the cartel may not be satisified until it sees prices once again above a barrel.

'' will not hurt the world economy,'' Daukoru, who is also the minister of petroleum in Nigeria, told Reuters as he arrived in South Korea for an oil and gas conference.

OPEC cut output from Nov. 1 -- its first formal curbs since 2004 -- to halt a slump in prices, which tumbled from a mid-July U.S. record of .40 to less than two weeks ago.

Despite the cuts, however, prices remain below a barrel, in part due to doubts over compliance from many members, including Nigeria. U.S. light sweet crude closed at .14 a barrel on Friday.

Daukoru said all OPEC members must and will fully implement the 1.2 million barrel-per-day output cut agreed to last month in Doha, and Nigeria alone will cut 100,000 bpd, which would push daily production down to 2.1 million barrels.

But oil traders said Nigeria would actually raise exports in December by 50,000 bpd to 2.09 million bpd, which excludes some production that is consumed at domestic refineries.

''A December quota cut may be necessary because the market is still soft,'' Daukoru said.

Many analysts have said OPEC's decision signalled its intent to maintain oil prices at around to , although until recently most members have avoided naming any new price target.

Last week, however, price hawks Iran and Venezuela both appeared to set the floor at the upper end of that range.

Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said that OPEC's strategy was to maintain at least a barrel, and that it may need to cut another 300,000 bpd in December to do so.

Iran's Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh said that a price below was unacceptable due to the rising cost of production.

REUTERS