“The organisation of petroleum exporting countries are likely to cut production in January if world oil prices keep dropping,” the Cartel's president said. “If the oversupply in the market were to be sustained, oil prices would fall and the Venezuelan economy would be affected,” said Ali Rodriguez, who also is Venezuela's Oil Minister. “For that reason, there will probably be a cut in production in January,” he said in a televised broadcast on Thursday. Rodriguez said OPEC's oil price benchmark has reached the lower limit of a so-called OPEC price band intended to keep prices between $ 22 and $ 28 per barrel. OPEC has agreed to cut production by 500,000 barrels a day if prices stay below $ 22 per barrel for 10 consecutive days. Increased OPEC production this year, more Non-OPEC production and a mild European winter have moderated oil prices in recent weeks. Rodriguez responded to US President-elect George W Bush's call for an OPEC production increase by noting that the Cartel has already raised output by about 4 million barrels per day this year. He did welcome Bush's invitation to help stabilize prices by cracking down on market futures speculation, increasing US refining capacity and raising oil transport capacity. Venezuela's Deputy Oil Minister, Bernardo Alvarez, told Dow Jones newswires there is no consensus among OPEC members to cut production during a January 17 meeting of oil ministers in Vienna. Members of Iran and Kuwait are urging a cut of 1 million barrels per day. Bureau Report