Speaking ahead of today’s formal OPEC meeting, Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Ahmad Al Sabah said all members of the 11-nation organisation were committed to fully complying with the current production ceiling and taking excess oil off the market.

"We have to cut off all our overproduction," Al Sabah said, suggesting production cuts of 1 million barrels a day of oil or more.

"Everyone has committed for next month, maybe to start from February." Al Sabah estimated OPEC's overproduction at around 1.7 million barrels a day. This is the total amount by which OPEC member states have been exceeding their production quotas.

Because targets have been exceeded, OPEC members can cut their actual production levels without revising their individual targets or the overall OPEC target.

However, Iraq, which produces about 2 million barrels a day, has been exempted from quotas to enable it to rebuild its economy.

Al Sabah had said he was in favor of enforcing compliance with quotas before reducing the target.

"I think, we can cut all overproduction and then think about [cutting] 500,000 barrels a day from the official ceiling," Al Sabah said.

But other members have been giving mixed signals, and it is not clear that Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Nigeria are committed to production cuts.

While OPEC is concerned that there is currently too much oil on the market, the US Department of Energy said OPEC should stick to its current production level to help build global crude inventories.

“[OPEC output] needs to stay about where it is,” Energy Information Administration head Guy Caruso told news agencies in Washington. “We still think inventories are too low."

It was still not clear whether OPEC was planning to increase the price band of its crudes in another move to prevent a further slide in prices.

Crude is now valued at nearly double the bottom end of the present band of US$22 to US$28, and several ministers said they wanted that band increased significantly.