Oil prices fell today as markets awaited fresh clues as to how much the OPEC producers' might cut production when it meets next week.
International benchmark Brent crude for April delivery stood 22 cents lower at $26.46 per barrel in early London trading.
US light crude futures fell 13 cents to $28.26 a barrel.
Markets on both sides of the Atlantic dropped yesterday despite expectations OPEC will opt for a production cut at its policy making meeting in Vienna next Friday.
Recent comments from officials in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Indonesia and Qatar have lent weight to speculation OPEC will cut production by between 500,000 and a million barrels per day (bpd).
It implemented a 1.5 million bpd in February to ward off any price slide during the seasonal demand downturn in the second quarter.
But the cartel - made anxious by forecasts of a global economic slowdown eating away growth in petroleum demand - will have a delicate task deciding how much OPEC can lop off output without harming a fragile world economy.
Price "hawks" Iran, Venezuela and Indonesia may push for a reduction closer to a million bpd to keep OPEC's reference basket of seven crudes near to the top end of the group's $22- to $28-a-barrel target.
