The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) started its extraordinary meeting in the Qatari capital of Doha on Thursday night, reports from Doha said.

According to the reports, the meeting was opened by OPEC Vice Chairman and Oil Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Mohanmed bin Dhain al-Hamili as OPEC Chairman and Nigerian Oil Minister Edmund Daukoru failed to arrive punctually at the scene by air due to "technical reasons".

The emergency meeting will look into means of reducing OPEC's actual production of oil by one million barrels, said the Qatari news agency, adding it will also see how much each OPEC member would reduce its oil output.

Media reports said earlier that OPEC appeared ready Thursday to announce a one million barrel per day cut to the cartel's oil production, the first since 2004, to halt a precipitous fall in prices at the world oil market,

Upon his arrival in Doha earlier on Thursday, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi said OPEC would cut one million barrels per day from its current production, which is below its official quota of 28 million barrels per day (bpd).

"For now we believe a million barrels from actual production will be meaningful and we have plenty of time to discuss additional cuts when we meet in Abuja," media reports quoted al-Nuaimi as saying.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said he believed OPEC was in agreement to cut one million bpd to check the slide in global prices, though the OPEC members have yet to decide whether the cut would be based on official quotas or actual production.

One day earlier, Algerian Oil Minister Chakib Khelil also said such a reduction was a "done deal".

Analysts said that OPEC appeared ready Thursday to announce a one million barrel per day cut but remained divided on how the reduction would be executed.

A cut to actual production would likely send oil prices higher, while a cut to the official quota could see them fall because OPEC lacks credibility by already producing under official targets, they added.

The recent oil prices in world market has saw a drop of more than 25 percent from record highs above 78 dollars struck in July and August.

Source: Xinhua