Oil Prices Stabilize Ahead of OPEC Cut

Oil prices were little changed Monday as traders prepared for OPEC to approve a further hefty round of output cuts--the fourth this year--at a meeting in Cairo on Friday.

Brent crude for February delivery settled just 2 cents down at $19.32 a barrel at the end of a shortened trading day in London ahead of the Christmas break.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday added his voice to those within OPEC who expect the cartel to ratify its 1.5 million barrels-a-day cut, agreed to in November.

OPEC decided then to hold up the implementation of the cut until it had wrung a commitment to rein in production from rival producers outside the cartel.

“Non-OPEC countries are almost ready to announce the cut which will help us improve the oil price,” Chavez said.

A Persian Gulf oil official confirmed Monday that members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are poised to implement the cutback plan now that independent producers have agreed to curtail their daily output.

Russia and Norway have each pledged cuts of 150,000 barrels a day. Mexico has said that it will cut 100,000 barrels, Oman 40,000 barrels and Angola 22,500 barrels, bringing the total non-OPEC cut in oil production to 462,500 barrels a day.

OPEC’s official daily output target is 23.2 million barrels, and it pumps about 40% of the world’s oil.