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LONDON: OPEC's president said on Friday the cartel would keep reducing output until oil prices stopped falling, just days after the 13-member group approved the biggest production cut in its history.
"We will continue this reduction until the price will stabilise," Algerian Oil Minister and OPEC president Chakib Khelil told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of 27 oil producing and consuming nations in London.
On Wednesday, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to cut output by 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) at a meeting in Oran, Algeria.
But opening the high-level meeting earlier, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that price volatility was "in no-one's interest" after a year which has seen prices lurch from record highs to historic lows.
Countries like Saudi Arabia - the world's biggest oil producer - also spoke of the importance of holding up oil prices.
Saudi oil minister Ali al-Nuaimi indicated he thought 75 dollars per barrel would be "fair and reasonable", adding that anything lower could lead to more instability and would discourage vital investment.
OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem El-Badri urged caution over calls for lower prices.
"Low crude prices do not translate into equal lower prices at the pump. The price that the end consumer pays comprises significant amount of taxation. This is especially the case in Europe and Japan," he said.
For his part, Brown argued that price volatility was "in no-one's interest", adding: "Our recent economic history bears the scars of our failure to move beyond the traditionally adversarial relations between producers and consumers".
The meeting comes after the price of crude oil in New York plunged below 34 dollars a barrel despite OPEC's record announcement on Wednesday.
Oil prices hit record highs above 147 dollars per barrel in July.
Brown originally envisaged a conference of heads of state, but those plans were scrapped over whether to invite leaders of OPEC countries such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who are shunned by London.
Britain eventually decided to hold the conference but to downgrade it to ministerial level. It is also being attended by Britain's Prince Andrew, a trade ambassador for the country.
Business leaders from oil companies like Total, Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP and Chevron are also invited.
British Energy Minister Ed Miliband said the meeting aimed to reach agreement on goals like less volatility, regulation and greater transparency but he and advisors stressed this was likely to be a "process" rather than yielding immediate results.
Miliband declined to comment in detail on OPEC production cuts, saying that since he was chairing the meeting and many OPEC nations were present, "it's not right for me to take a view on their decisions".
But he added: "I think lower prices are necessary for the world economy".
The meeting follows a similar one held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in June. - AFP/de
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