The group made a historic decision past year to maintain high output in an attempt to defend market share from USA and other producers.
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An Opec production cut would only go ahead if non-members such as Russia, Mexico, Oman and Kazakhstan commit to joint action, the senior delegate was cited as saying.
Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf Arab countries are the only ones that are not in agreement with a cut, according to the Shana report.
As of 09:53 front month Brent crude futures were rebounding 1.71% to reach $43.23 per barrel in London trading after spilling lower in the previous session.
On Friday the cartel will hold its ministerial meeting at its headquarters in Vienna, where it will consider oil output levels and pricing.
Crude prices turned positive on Thursday after falling more than 4 percent a day earlier on an unexpected rise in US stockpiles, and as traders dismissed the possibility of OPEC stemming oversupply by cutting production.
– Says that worldwide oil companies have responded positively to Iran’s production contract proposals so far, but have yet to sign MOUs.
While El-Badri said he hopes price uncertainty will diminish in the coming months, the secretary general gave no indication that OPEC will alter its current 30 million barrel per day production target.
“There’s no evidence at this stage that members within Opec are moving toward a scenario that will see Saudi Arabia back away from its strategy”, Michael McCarthy, a chief strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, said by phone.
Further downwards pressure on oil prices is expected to come next year from OPEC member Iran ramping up oil exports as sanctions are lifted as part of July’s nuclear deal with major powers.
Oil prices fell slightly Tuesday as Saudi Arabia’s oil minister would not be drawn on the outcome of OPEC’s upcoming meeting on crude production levels.
“China’s implied oil demand growth… grew at 3.8 percent year-on-year in October (407,000 barrels per day), an improvement relative to the 226,000 barrels per day growth in September”, Barclays said.
“We expect the OPEC meeting on Thursday and Friday to be a non-event, and member countries are unlikely to agree on any production cuts”, Barclays said.
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“But the OPEC member countries have lost so much money and it doesn’t seem we can change the situation in the short term”.
