The weekly average prices of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) rebounded slightly to US$46.03 per barrel last week from 45.40 dollars the previous week, the Vienna-based cartel said Monday.

It was the first rebound after nine consecutive weeks of declining.

OPEC oil prices rebounded for four consecutive trading days last week, from US$44.48 per barrel on Nov. 24 to US$47.38 on Nov. 27, but declined again on the last trading day to US$47.29 per barrel.

Despite the slight rebound, the sliding trend has not changed, which indicates the mixed sentiment in the market which was waiting to see whether another decision on production cuts would be made at the Cairo meeting over the weekend.

OPEC held off on announcing new oil output cuts this weekend, but indicated that a daily cut of 1.5 million barrels of crude oil may be achieved during their Dec. 17 meeting in Algeria.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, the biggest oil producer in OPEC, broke its usual silence about specific prices and noted that US$75 per barrel is a "favorable target price."

Evidence shows that it may be time for OPEC to take measures to prop up oil prices.

In the second half of this year, the international oil prices dropped rapidly from US$147 per barrel at the beginning of July to below US$50 . Meanwhile, OPEC oil prices also dived from the peak price of US$141 per barrel to below US$43.

(Xinhua News Agency December 2, 2008)