Venezuelan Minister of Energy Rafael Ramirez said Wednesday he believed that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will cut oil production in early 2006.

Ramirez, also head of the country's state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, made the remarks one day after OPEC agreed to maintain its production ceiling of 28 million barrels per day.

"I am sure a production cut will be agreed at the beginning of next year," Ramirez said.

At present, international crude prices are fair at 70 U.S. dollars a barrel, an unbroken record since August, and the prices will be maintained for a time, said the Venezuelan minister.

He added that the market must avoid oversupply, and oil production in the Gulf of Mexico is recovering from the damage caused by the hurricane season.

Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil exporter, announced earlier that it would do all it can to defend current prices at the OPEC meeting in January.

Oil production usually reduces at the start of the year when it gets warmer in the United States and Europe, where a lot of oil is consumed for heating.

Source: Xinhua