OPEC will cut oil production early next year in a bid to stave off a further decline in prices, Kuwait's oil minister said Thursday.

Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Ahmad Al Sabah said all members of the 11-nation organization were committed to fully complying with the current production ceiling and taking excess oil off the market. He estimated OPEC's current overproduction at about 1.7 million barrels a day.

The comments revealed what delegates to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries had agreed in informal discussions ahead of their formal meeting Friday.

OPEC will likely meet again in February, Al Sabah added.

No amount of extra output from OPEC has seemed to satisfy the world market for most of this year, but in recent weeks prices have dropped significantly from summer highs of $50 a barrel.

Excluding Iraq, which is outside the quota system as it rebuilds its economy, the 10 other OPEC members have a self-imposed output target of 27 million barrels a day.

Total OPEC output, including Iraq, is about 30 million a day.

Benchmark U.S. crude futures have fallen by almost a quarter since the record $55-plus highs seen in late October. The decline has been sharpest in the last week or so, spurred by increases in U.S. petroleum inventories, mild winter weather and little sign of a slowdown in OPEC output.

Recovering from recent lows, light sweet crude rose 59 cents to $42.53 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. But it was still at levels that could support calls by some OPEC members to stem any new downward trend.

Source: Agencies