Saudi Arabia has enforced its pledge to cut 500,000 barrels a day of oil supply and is now producing around nine million barrels per day, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said yesterday.

"We took off the 500, we're around nine," Mr Naimi said on arrival for a meeting with Asian oil consumers in New Delhi.

Opec oil producers last month agreed to cut one million barrels per day of excess supply from January 1 in an effort to cap a forecast out-of-season build in stocks during the northern winter.

Top cartel producer Saudi Arabia pledged to shoulder half the total cut, or 500,000 bpd. International oil majors confirmed that they received lower January supplies from state oil firm Saudi Aramco.

Oil prices have fallen nearly $14 or 25 per cent from record highs hit on late October. Some Opec ministers have said that the group may need to cut production quotas when it meets on January 30 to stop prices falling further.

Mr Naimi declined to be drawn on whether Opec was likely to cut, saying that the group would first need to assess supply and demand trends. "We'll have to look at the data," he said. US crude was down 12 cents at $42.00 a barrel yesterday.

Oil prices rose 34 per cent in 2004, driven up by rising consumption in China, India and the United States. Opec pumped at its highest level in 25 years to meet the demand, leaving little capacity spare to cope with supply problems.

Demand growth is expected to ease this year, but Mr Naimi declined to speculate on whether oil prices would continue to fall. "Let's leave that all up to the market" he said.

Opec's own reference basket of crude oil was last valued at $35.67 a barrel, still well above the formal $22-28 a barrel price target.

Several Opec ministers have called for Opec to raise its formal price target, but Saudi Arabia has not yet stated what it would prefer as a new range.

"What price band?," said Mr Naimi when asked his position on the band.