In an interview with French paper Le Monde, al-Attiyah said OPEC must cut its production further. "There is too much oil on the market, and this has a bad influence on prices, which have fallen drastically," he is reported to have said.

Last month the oil cartel said it would raise its output ceiling 4% by 900,000 barrels a day, while agreeing to choke back the overproduction designed to avoid a supply shortage during the recent Iraq war.