OPEC, Struggling to Move in Concert, Considers Cutting Output

Faced with plunging oil prices and shrinking revenues, members of the OPEC cartel suggested on Saturday that they might lower production for the third time this year when they meet in Algeria next month. But the group's unwillingness to seek an immediate cut in output even as demand craters in the United States and the world edges into a broad recession reflects the difficulties the cartel is facing in trying to stop prices from falling. At a chaotic news briefing held in a hotel lobby here, OPEC's president, Chakib Khelil, stressed that compliance with previous production cuts was satisfactory. But even as the organization tries to present a unified front, it is facing the incredibly tough task of trying to stop prices from falling at a time when demand is no longer growing.