VIENNA AFX - Ministers and officials from the 11 OPEC nations began their formal meeting in Vienna on Monday to discuss the cartel's output ceiling and falling oil prices.
The 142nd meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, was expected to decide to maintain the production quota of 28 mln bpd when it formally ends at about 4.00 pm local time (1600 GMT), several ministers said.
The ceiling set in June 2005 while prices were rising applies to all of the OPEC members except Iraq.
"Informally I think we will keep the production ceiling," Algeria's Energy Minister Chakib Khelil told journalists at OPEC headquarters after a first informal meeting.
Several ministers from the oil producing nations said they also wanted to discuss the current fall in oil prices and examine the potential for future action if they continue to decline in the coming months.
OPEC ministers are due to hold their next ordinary meeting in Nigeria in December 11 to 14.
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