The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries will meet informally in Cairo on Saturday only a month after it agreed to cut oil production by 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) from November 1.

Opec president Chakib Khelil said the current market weakness implied the need for a further reduction of more than one million bpd.

But, as the impact of existing curbs filters through only gradually, he said the supply demand balance would probably not be clear until the group's official policy-setting meeting on December 17.

In the nearer term, the market could draw some support from colder weather, which would increase heating oil demand.

Expectations of cold weather in the US was likely to drive demand for heating oil 10 per cent above normal this week, according to the National Weather Service.

Ahead of the next set of US government inventory data, analysts polled by Reuters predicted stocks of distillates - which include heating oil - would have fallen by one million barrels.

They expected the data for release today would also show crude stocks had risen by 400,000 barrels and gasoline stocks by 700,000 barrels in the week to November 21.