Vienna - The price for crude oil produced by OPEC members continued to slide ahead of their meeting in Vienna on Tuesday, but Saudi Arabia signalled there was no need for production cuts.

One barrel of crude produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries stood at 101.08 dollars Monday, 13 cents less than on the previous day, and 39.75 dollars less than the record price set on July 3.

Ali al-Naimi, the oil minister of OPEC's largest producer Saudi Arabia, said Tuesday that the market was in balance.

Iran's oil minister Gholam Hossein Nozari called on fellow cartel members on Monday to limit oversupply and stick to their allocated output levels.

Nozari was quoted by Iranian news agency IRNA as saying that "we expect all OPEC members to produce upon their quota and control the supply into the market."

OPEC is not expected to cut official quotas in its meeting later on Tuesday, but experts say that member countries such as Saudi Arabia might limit overproduction in order to react to lower global demand.

High fuel prices and and the economic slump have dampened consumption in the United States, but demand is also slowing in other industrialized countries.

As the OPEC conference falls in the Islamic month of Ramadan, the meeting starts in the evening and will likely end after midnight CET time.

OPEC produces around 37 per cent of the world's oil supply. The organization calculates an average basket price based on 13 brands produced by its members. (dpa)