OPEC to cut output in second quarter of 2006

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is likely to reduce its crude-oil production after the high-demand Northern Hemisphere winter, the group’s president said Thursday.

“I expect OPEC to decrease output for the second quarter,” Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said, adding that the group isn’t expected to change its production policy for the first quarter.

His remarks, made during a one-day visit to Beijing to meet with top Chinese policy makers, are the latest hint from OPEC of its concerns that oil demand will fall after winter, bringing prices down.

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Al-Sabah is in Beijing with OPEC’s acting secretary-general Adnan Shihab-Eldin on an official visit to try to further deepen dialogue between oil producers and consumers. China is the world’s second-biggest consumer of oil and third-biggest importer.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange traded up 69 cents at $59.25 a barrel after the news.

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On Dec. 12, OPEC agreed to keep current production unchanged, although ministers have indicated they stand ready to cut back if needed at a meeting scheduled for Jan. 31 in Vienna.

The group’s official quota stands at 28 million barrels a day, the highest in its history, and applies to the 10 active members, excluding Iraq.

Al-Sabah, who made several Asian stops last year in his capacity as Kuwait Energy Minister, will hand over the OPEC presidency to Nigeria’s Oil Minister Edmund Daukoru on Jan. 1.