Iran official sees need for OPEC oil cut: Agency

Tehran, Dec 3: Iran's OPEC governor said on Sunday that the oil cartel needed to cut production further because of a slowdown in world economic growth and rising oil stocks, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Since it agreed to cut production from November by 1.2 million barrels per day, Ministers in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have expressed differing views on whether the group needs to reduce supplies further.

Some are some concerned about high fuel stockpiles, but others are reluctant about a additional cut because crude prices are holding firm above .

''Some factors including a decrease in the world's economic growth and accumulation of oil stocks and production, shows that the market needs another cut in OPEC production,'' Iran's OPEC governor, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, was quoted as saying.

Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh was on Saturday quoted as saying OPEC may cut its crude production again if prices fall.

''There is such a possibility if the prices fall'' he said.

''This cannot be predicted right now.'' Iran, OPEC's second crude producer after Saudi Arabia, has said it has cut its oil output by 176,000 bpd as its part of the total OPEC production cut from November.

REUTERS