term fundamentals are not strong and that's what brought the price off," said Tony Nunan at Mitsubishi Corp. "But if you think a bit longer term, there are still many bullish factors, including OPEC's meeting on the horizon and the fact that they've warned about cuts before the meeting." OPEC's threat to agree to a fresh production cut by telephone if stockbuilds accelerate or prices collapse has made most traders reluctant to sell the market short, particularly with the cartel ready to defend a much higher floor of $40. OPEC ministers will meet March 16 in Iran. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries cut production by 1 million barrels per day (bpd) from Jan. 1 after prices dipped as low as $40.25 a barrel in early December. Oil has traded in a $45-$50 range for the past month. A survey of January OPEC production showed cartel output fell nearly half a million barrels per day from the previous month. However, production from the 10 members with quotas fell only 390,000 bpd, holding 370,000 bpd above the target of 27 million barrels per day agreed at a December meeting, the survey showed. --SP 0012 Local Time 2112 GMT
