OPEC to Cut Oil Production by 1M Barrels

ABUJA, Nigeria – OPEC will cut global oil production by 1 million barrels a day, Nigerian oil minister and OPEC president Edmund Daukoru said Wednesday.

"The cut itself is agreed," Daukoru told reporters after a Cabinet meeting in the Nigerian capital, adding the cuts would begin at the end of the month.

Daukoru said members of the producing cartel were still working out how to share the cuts, but were "nearing consensus."

Daukoru’s comments followed a slew of reports attributed to anonymous sources from member countries who said the cartel planned to trim daily production by 1 million barrels to prop up prices.

Daukoru had said last week that OPEC was considering holding an emergency meeting before its scheduled Dec. 14 conference to discuss what to do about falling prices.

Oil prices have fallen sharply in recent weeks. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude oil futures for November delivery reached a fresh eight-month settlement low Tuesday. The contract settled down $1.44, or 2.4 percent, at $58.52 a barrel.