Despite several statements over the past two days dampening expectations that any such production cut would be announced this weekend, there was still a feeling of anticipation in the air as people waited for what one reporter jokingly called “an expected surprise.”

Such anticipation grew as oil ministers gave brief statements on their way to and from the 81st meeting for the 11-member Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) as well as the “consultative” Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting that took place afterward.

“Oil demand is expected to be much lower than a month ago,” said OPEC President Chakib Khelil, adding that some countries were currently finding “no buyer for their crude,” and that some oil needs to be taken off the market.

Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani told reporters that his country backed a cutback in production in order to help stop the steady decline of prices worldwide. He added that Iraq was seeking a “fair oil price.”

Moreover, Kuwait’s oil minister, Mohammed al-Aleem, warned the market is oversupplied.

Yet at the end, a statement went out saying that “any such decision (on a cut in output) would be made at their coming meeting in Algeria on December 17.”

“There is a rapid and scary decline in oil prices. OPEC’s meeting in Cairo aims at taking a look at the expectations of demand and supply,” said Magdi Sobhi, an Egyptian researcher at Al-Ahram Center’s for Strategic Studies.

“The meeting is to discuss how much will they cut the output when the decision is announced, in order to push prices a bit higher, and of course without losing sight of the current situation in the global economy,” Sobhi told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

“These people know the level of demand and supply even when we do not know it. They know how much demand is in the consuming countries,” he added.

Sobhi agrees with many other analysts that “no one really knows when this crisis will end, or how deep it will reach.”

“This is why all possibilities should be taken in consideration,” noted Sobhi.

Members of OPEC, which accounts for 40 percent of global oil production, have lost billions of dollars as demand has dropped in the face of the global economic downturn.

On Friday, OPEC’s secretariat in Vienna reported that its average price on Thursday was US$47.38 per barrel, a drop of more than US$10 since November 24, despite the cartel’s efforts to boost prices by cutting production 1.5 million barrels a day. Many believe the impact of that move has not been felt yet.

Oil hit a record US$147 a barrel in July.

Sobhi said he thinks a fair price would be around US$60-70 per barrel. Qatari Oil and Gas Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah said his country believes prices should be between US$75 and 100 per barrel.

Saudi King Abdullah said in an interview appearing Saturday in the Kuwaiti paper as-Seyassah that he considers a “fair price” to be US$75 per barrel.

“I believe such a decrease is not logical, the same way as the huge increase was. Speculation pushed prices up, then pulled it down. Nothing will get back to normal until the picture is clearer concerning the economic situation of both oil exporting and consuming countries,” said Sobhi.

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