At maintaining the price of oil

U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson urged OPEC on Sunday to agree on modest oil output cuts at its January meeting in order to spare the world economy any harmful effects from higher oil prices. “U.S. feels there should be no production decrease,” Richardson said. “But we are realistic and it is important that any cut in January not aggravate the market.” Richardson said Washington was “concerned with talk of output cuts of two to three million barrels per day (bpd), which will be very harmful to the world economy.” On Friday, Richardson said in Paris he would try to convince oil-producing nations to aim at maintaining the price of oil at $25 or $26 a barrel. OPEC’s Secretary-General Ali Rodriguez said Friday that some members wanted a cut of 1 million barrels a day, while others were pushing for 1.5 million to 2 million barrels a day. OPEC ministers will meet in Vienna on January 17 to agree on production cuts. Leading producer Saudi Arabia prefers a reduction of 1.5 million barrels per day, while other OPEC members have talked of cuts of up to two million bpd.