In a bid to counteract falling demand and a precipitous drop in crude prices, OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) is preparing to slash oil output for the first time in almost two years.

In an endeavor to stem a collapse in prices, Friday’s emergency meeting of the 13-member cartel will take place in Vienna, where Iran and Venezuela, two of the countries most dependent on high prices, will push for reductions.

Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez told reporters in the Austrian capital that OPEC members have a “consensus” on cutting supply. He said that an immediate “substantial cut” of at least 1 million barrels a day is required.

Officials say OPEC, which supplies 40% of the world’s oil, proposes to implement the cut in two stages – part of it now, and the rest in December, when the group plans to meet again.

Some OPEC ministers have also said that the group could decide to roll back production in multiple steps, as the producer group did in late 2006 when it announced two cuts, totaling 1.7 million barrels a day, in October and December of that year.

A decision to trim production will raise the persistent question in the cartel of who should do the cutting. Nigeria, Iran and Venezuela, who are already under growing fiscal pressure, will be wary of cutting back their own output, even in the face of falling prices. That job will fall largely to, OPEC’s largest producer - Saudi Arabia.

Some oil-consuming countries are cautioning against an OPEC cut, arguing that the world economy needs the boost of lower energy prices. US Deputy Energy Secretary, Jeffrey Kupfer, said: “We think they need to keep the markets well supplied.”