The OPEC oil cartel on Thursday raised pressure on rival producers to join output restraint efforts even though prices seem too high for non-OPEC states to consider sharing the load

OPEC’s third largest producer Venezuela will host Norway’s oil minister for market discussions later this month, a Norwegian ministry spokeswoman said on Thursday. Norway’s Einar Steensnaes meets Venezuela’s Rafael Ramirez on October 28 after seeing non-OPEC Mexico’s Energy Minister Felipe Calderon on October 24. OPEC last week agreed to cut production by 3.5 per cent from November 1 to curb growth in consumer inventory stockpiles as rival production rises from Russia and West Africa and Iraq’s post-war production slowly recovers. The group, which controls around half the world’s oil trade, said it expected non-OPEC producers to join in if further cuts are needed. OPEC meets again on December 4 to decide policy for the first quarter of 2004. "There is a possibility to cut the production quota at the next session, but that depends on non-OPEC and whether they will cut or not," Indonesian Oil Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, who will take over as OPEC president from January 1, said on Thursday. In 2002, top non-OPEC producers Russia, Norway and Mexico supported OPEC cuts by making their own curbs, but only after prices had fallen to $17 a barrel.