* Oil down more than $3 after no cut from OPEC
* OPEC to discuss 1 to 1.5 mbpd cut later in December
(Updates prices)
By Jane Merriman
LONDON, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Oil fell more than $3 to below $51
a barrel on Monday after OPEC decided to wait until mid-December
to make a further cut in output to try to defend sagging prices.
U.S. light crude for January delivery <CLc1> was down $3.70
at $50.73 a barrel by 1504 GMT.
Oil had settled at $54.43 on Friday after a shortened
post-Thanksgiving holiday session. On Nov. 21, it touched a
three and half year low of $48.25.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> was $3.55 lower at $49.94 a
barrel.
"The markets are discounting OPEC's decision to stand pat by
selling off," said Edward Meir, analyst at broker MF Global.
"When it comes to calibrating supply and demand to fit the
new post-September economic realities, OPEC seems to be in a
state of denial," he said in a research note.
Oil is down by almost two-thirds from a peak of more than
$147 a barrel in July. Prices fell almost 20 percent in November
and 32 percent in October, their biggest monthly fall ever,
despite OPEC's around 2 million barrels per day cutbacks.
A global economic slowdown that has tipped a growing number
of countries into recession has caused sharp falls in oil
demand. U.S. shares fell steeply on Monday, illustrating the
depth of investor concern over the economic downturn. []
But OPEC's Gulf producers want to see strict compliance with
the producer group's existing output curbs of 2 million barrels
per day (bpd) before agreeing to any more.
"FAIR PRICE"
"I was a little surprised they didn't announce anything
stronger," said Simon Wardell, senior oil analyst at IHS Global
Insight. "I think this (meeting) was to underline that everyone
really needs to work together."
In Cairo, OPEC ministers discussed how much more they needed
to cut. Most, including Gulf producers led by Saudi Arabia, saw
the need to trim another 1 to 1.5 million bpd.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
meets next in Algeria on Dec. 17. []
OPEC Secretary General al-Badri told reporters in Tehran on
Monday that the group was prepared to cut then: "It will be a
good amount, a good quantity," without naming a specific figure.
[]
"It seems to us that the group remains in broad agreement as
to their concerns regarding inflated inventory levels and low
prices," said Tim Evans, analyst at Citi Futures Perspective.
"The question seems to be more regarding the timing of further
action rather than disputes over what sort of action to take."
Saudi Arabia on Saturday pointed to $75 a barrel as a "fair
price" for oil, the first time in years that the world's biggest
exporter has identified a target for crude prices.[]
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi in Cairo cited this price as
necessary to keep more expensive new projects at the margins of
world supply on track.
"I believe $75 is the price for the marginal producer," he
told reporters in Cairo.
On Sunday he told the Saudi-owned al-Hayat newspaper the
effect of OPEC's existing cuts was still not clear.[]
(Additional reporting by Maryelle Demongeot in Singapore and
Osamu Tsukimori on Tokyo; editing by James Jukwey)
