QATAR says against another OPEC production cut

Qatar's Energy Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah said Monday his gas-rich emirate is "for the moment" against further production cuts by OPEC.

"It is not necessary for the moment to call an extraordinary meeting of OPEC or to institute a further cut in production," said the minister, who was taking part in an economic forum in Abu Dhabi.

"We have to wait to see the impact on the markets of the latest reductions," Attiyah added, as cited by the official WAM news agency.

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), meeting in Nigeria in December, decided to cut production by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) from February 1, following a reduction of 1.2 million bpd in November.

But the market remains skeptical about the reductions, with certain members of the cartel being regularly shown to cheat. Attiyah, whose country is a member of OPEC, was adamant the cuts were being universally applied.

"The OPEC countries are all respecting the 500,000 bpd cut" after "scrupulously applying" the earlier 1.2 million bpd reduction, the minister said.

Crude prices fell to below 50 dollars a barrel on January 18 in New York, hitting their lowest levels since May 2005 owing to a sharp increase in U.S. crude stocks and a relatively mild winter across the northern hemisphere. But with the advent of colder temperatures in recent weeks, the market has since gradually recovered.

On Friday, when trading closed ahead of the weekend, New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, jumped 1.72 dollars to 59.10 dollars a barrel.