国际英语新闻：Iran proposes another OPEC oil cut of 1-1.5 mln bpd

TEHRAN, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Iran on Saturday proposed another Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil cut of 1-1.5 million barrels per day (bpd), reported state television IRIB's website.

    "It is better for a decision to be made for another cut of one million to 1.5 million barrels per day," Iran's OPEC representative Mohammad Ali Khatibi was quoted as saying.

    "So that a balance between supply and demand is reached," he added.

    Khatibi made the proposal for a forthcoming OPEC meeting in Cairo later this month, which is seen as a preparation for a special OPEC ministerial meeting in the western Algerian town of Oran on Dec. 17 on prospects of international oil markets in the first half of 2009.

    At the emergency meeting in Vienna on Oct. 24, OPEC ministers agreed to reduce output by 1.5 million bpd to 27.3 million bpd from Nov. 1 in an attempt to prevent prices from falling further.

    The organization said Thursday it will announce further cuts in oil output at the end of this month if global oil prices continued falling.

    Oil prices fell to below 65 U.S. dollars a barrel in New York last week as the prospect of a shrinking global economic growth and weakening energy demand weighed on the market.

    The OPEC weekly price, which has continued to drop after reaching record highs in July this year, also slid to 56.83 dollars per barrel last week.

    Iran, which holds estimated recoverable oil reserves of 138 billion barrels, produces oil of some 4.2 million bpd.