Saudis willing to act on 'critical' oil market: Algeria

London

SAUDI Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, has offered to cut its output to January levels, Algeria's energy minister said as he prepared to host a meeting of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) producers later this week.

Prices rebounded on Monday after tumbling 3.7 per cent last Friday as Saudi Arabia signalled that the Algiers meeting will be consultative and unlikely to reach a firm decision. While Noureddine Boutarfa's comments do not change that, they suggest that Opec's leading member may still be willing to work towards the group's first production curbs since the organisation let members produce at will in late 2014, causing prices to plunge. Opec meets again in Vienna in November.