The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) should cut its oil production by 500,000 to 1 million barrels a day, Venezuela's Oil and Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Thursday.

He did not say, however, when the cut should begin.

Ramirez, also president of Petroleos de Venezuela, the state-owned oil company, said that based on current demand estimates, OPEC is now overproducing 1 million barrels per day.

Having peaked at a record 70.85 U.S. dollars per barrel in last August, oil prices have fallen back to their lowest levels in recent weeks since the end of December.

In January, OPEC agreed to keep current production levels of 28 million barrels per day, which are close to a 25-year high. OPEC ministers are due to meet again on March 8 in Vienna, headquarters of the 11-member cartel, to set production levels for the spring season.

Venezuela, the world's fifth largest exporter of crude oil, produces 3.3 million barrels per day, some 1.5 million of which is sold to the United States.

Source: Xinhua