* All eyes on OPEC meeting in Cairo
* Third OPEC output cut in three months under consideration
* Kuwait says OPEC may defer any supply cuts until December
* Iran also suggests supply decision may be made next month
(Updates prices, adds comment)
By Jane Merriman
LONDON, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Oil slipped below $53 a barrel on
Friday on a developing view that OPEC ministers gathered in
Cairo this weekend may decide to delay any cut in supply until
they meet again in December.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> was down 45 cents at $52.68 by
1440 GMT. Brent looked more representative of market sentiment
than U.S. crude as trading in the United States was still
subdued because of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
U.S. light crude for January delivery <CLc1> was $1.48 a
barrel lower at $52.96, down from around $54 in late trading on
Thursday.
The NYMEX trading floor was closed on Thursday, though
Globex trading continued.
U.S. crude is on course to end the month down more than 20
percent, despite a 2-million-barrel-per-day supply cut by the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed
at meetings in September and October.
"In theory, if supply gets cut, prices should go up, but the
problem is what is the level of demand," said Adrian Pankiw,
strategist at Henderson Global Investors. "The question is: is
OPEC cutting supply faster than demand is falling?"
Falls in demand in top energy consumer the United States and
other industrialised countries have helped drive U.S. crude down
almost $100 from a record peak of more than $147 a barrel in
July. It fell by almost a third last month, its biggest monthly
drop ever.
Global oil demand is expected to decline slightly this year
and next, the first fall in a generation because of the world
economic downturn, according to a Reuters poll. []
THIRD SUCCESSIVE CUT?
OPEC has not ruled out making its third output cut in as
many months, but some believe the full impact of its existing
cuts have yet to be felt.
"Combined with weakening non-OPEC supplies, the projected
OPEC's output curtailment suggests that the oil market could
actually tighten moving into 2009," Barclays Capital said in a
research note.
Oil futures prices several years out are already showing a
return to an upward track. For November 2010, for example, the
price is above $70 a barrel and for November 2013 more than $80.
Several OPEC delegates have said the Cairo gathering is
likely only to measure compliance with existing cuts, leaving a
decision on any further reduction until the group's next
policy-setting meeting on Dec. 17 in Algeria.
"I don't think a decision will be taken at the meeting in
Cairo. A decision could be taken at the meeting in Algeria,"
Kuwaiti Oil Minister Mohammad al-Olaim said on Friday.
Iran's Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari reinforced this
view, saying the Cairo talks would likely review market
conditions but any final decisions on output levels would be
deferred to their meeting next month.
"It is a consultative meeting," Nozari said.
But Shokri Ghanem, the head of the Libyan OPEC delegation,
said on Thursday another immediate cut should not be ruled out.
A Reuters poll this week of 15 analysts forecast by a narrow
margin that OPEC would make no announcement of a further
reduction in oil output this weekend but would probably do so at
its meeting in Algeria.
(Additional reporting by Christopher Johnson in London and
Maryelle Demongeot in Singapore; editing by James Jukwey)
