Qatar's oil minister hinted yesterday that Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) could decide to trim its oil output to prop up sagging crude prices but experts believe it would be a relatively small cut to avert further damage to the global economy.

Abdullah Al Attiyah said the 12-nation organisation has to take what he described as preventive measures to stabiise the market when its oil ministers hold emergency talks in Vienna on November 18. Quoted by the London-based Arabic daily Al Hayat, he said the present global financial crisis would depress demand for oil.

"Opec has to restore balance between supply and demand. We will focus on the level of demand which will decline below supply contracts so we can avert a bigger problem in the future, which is a large increase in supply," he said.

The minister said Opec takes into consideration statements by key industrial nations, which cited reports by the International Energy Agency that there will be a decline in oil demand because of the present financial crisis.

"We interact with the market in a realistic manner when demand declines, we have to take preventive measures by cutting output in order to avoid future problems of accumulating supply, which we might not be able to handle," he said.

Al Hayat said Attiyah declined to elaborate on the size of the output cut but it quoted sources close to Opec as saying it could be around one million bpd.

Gulf experts ruled out such a large cut on the grounds it could sharply push up prices again and stifle the already slackening global economic growth, which in turn will further depress oil demand.

One expert in Saudi Arabia said the Kingdom, which controls a quarter of the world's oil and pumps over 10 per cent of the global crude supplies, favours an oil price of around $85 a barrel on the grounds it will not hurt its economy.

"Opec ministers will try to find a sort of balance between demand and supply when they meet next month in a manner that will not lead to a sharp rise in oil prices which could only hasten the expected global economic recession," said Mohammed Al Ramadi, economics professor at King Fahd Petroleum University.

"I believe they will try to preserve the interests of both the producers and consumers. For this reason, I think the cut will not be very big considering the fact that Saudi Arabia believes a price of $85 is suitable and not worrying for its economy as the Kingdom and other Gulf oil producers have based their budgets on an oil price of $45-50 a barrel. This means the situation is still not worrying."

Another King Fahd University professor said any decision by Opec next month would take into account a sharp fall in demand in case of a global recession.

"I think the ministers will try to take decisions that will keep prices at reasonable levels that will not adversely affect producers and at the same time contribute to stimulating growth in the global economy," Ali Alak said.

"High prices will accelerate a recession and this will negatively affect producers as it will depress demand and push prices down again. For this reason, it is in the interest of all to maintain prices at reasonable and fair levels."

Oil prices have lost more than $60 over the past few weeks from their peak levels in July and August, when they soared to record high of $150 a barrel.

The price of Opec's basket of crudes averaged around $81.94 in the first 10 days of October compared with $131.22 in July. But year-to-date, prices have remained far higher than the $69 average in 2007, standing at $107.07.