Opec ministers agreed in talks in Algiers late last month on a plan to cut their production ceiling to between 32.5 million and 33 million barrels per day at a meeting in Vienna in late November.

Asked about the relatively modest size of the potential reduction being discussed by Opec, Falih, who was attending the World Energy Congress (WEC) in Istanbul, suggested that stronger action could be counter-productive.

"Opec