"The market is over supplied by two million barrels a day. What we need to do is to take these off the market ... by strictly sticking to our quotas," the source told AFP.

"Some members are cheating, we do not know which ones. We need more compliance," he added, indicating that member countries were exceeding the production limits set by OPEC.

"We are now producing way over our quotas at 26 million barrels plus a day."

The Organisation of Petrolium Exporting Countries has a quota of 24.5 million barrels a day and is worried that prices could decline once the hostilities in Iraq end, as they did after the 1991 Gulf War.

The 11-country cartel is hoping to prevent a slump through preventative action.

OPEC president Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah said recently that the organisation was keeping all its options open with a view to stabilising the market, be that lowering production or just enforcing the quotas.

Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil said in Paris on Thursday that should OPEC return to its normal production levels a balance between supply and demand should be re-established and prices might firm.

Raad Alkadiri, analyst at PFC Energy consultancy in Washington, said: "I think OPEC is going look to Saudi Arabia obviously to cut production but all of the countries there are producing well above quotas.

"They may well deny it, but that's nonetheless true. OPEC always denies it. There is no way that OPEC is not producing over quota. If not the price wouldn't be where it is now right now," he added.

OPEC is due to hold an extraordinary ministerial meeting later this month or early in May, and April 24 has been given as a provisionary date.

"The problem is that this date of April 24 does not suit Kuwait," said the source, who did not want to be named.

Asked whether Iraq, a founding member of OPEC, would be represented, he said: "Given the circumstances, Iraq's seat could well be empty."

The Iraqi embassy in Vienna said it could not say if its charge d'affaires, Hamed El Shamiri, would represent Iraq as he had done during OPEC's last two meetings.

OPEC in March exceeded its official production limit by 1.4 million barrels per day, according to the International Energy Agency in Paris.

This followed the crises in Venezuela, Iraq and Nigeria, which pushed certain members, notably Saudi Arabia, to increase their production and is causing a supply glut and forcing prices down.

Oil prices slipped in London Friday on prospects that Iraq's crude will soon flow again, despite the comments from OPEC that the cartel could remove up to two million barrels per day from world markets to prevent oversupply.

Reference Brent North Sea crude for May delivery fell 19 cents to 24.28 dollars a barrel.

New York's benchmark light sweet crude contract for May delivery dipped 11 cents a barrel to 27.35 dollars in early trading, having plummeted by 1.39 dollars the day before.

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