Oil prices fell this evening as Algerian energy minister and former OPEC president Chakib Khelil said that the market would continue sliding if the cartel refrained from cutting output this weekend.
Traders also digested news of rising crude oil stockpiles in key consumer the US.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April fell 70 cents to $43.26 a barrel. New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for April, dropped $1.14 to $44.57.
Ministers of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the cartel that pumps about 40% of world crude, meet on Sunday in Vienna to discuss whether to slash output in a bid to shore up prices.
'If nothing is done, prices will fall in the second quarter,'' Khelil said, adding that the market remained oversupplied ahead of OPEC's gathering.
Khelil said he believed the 'majority' of OPEC's 12 member nations backed a reduction in production that would help to support prices and in turn boost their incomes.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Energy said today that US crude oil reserves increased by 700,000 barrels last week, which was slightly more than market expectations. The report is crucial for the crude market because the US is the world's biggest oil consuming nation.
Even though US refineries are working harder, data released yesterday projected average annual world oil consumption will decline by almost 1.4 million barrels a day in 2009.
OPEC had agreed late last year to reduce output by 4.2 million barrels a day as oil prices plunged from record highs of over $147 a barrel in July with the economic crisis hurting demand.
