LONDON (Reuters) - Oil fell below $54 a barrel on Friday as OPEC ministers gathered in Cairo to discuss deeper cuts in supply to counter the impact of the global economic slowdown on demand for fuel.
U.S. light crude for January delivery stood $1.29 a barrel lower at $53.15 by 5 a.m. EST, down from $54 in late trading on Thursday.
The NYMEX trading floor was closed on Thursday in the United States for the Thanksgiving Day holiday, though Globex trading continued.
London Brent crude was 63 cents down at $52.50.
Oil is on course to end the month down more than 20 percent, despite a 2 million barrel per day supply cut by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed at meetings in September and October.
Falls in demand in top energy consumer the United States and other industrialized countries have helped drive oil down almost $100 from a record peak of more than $147 a barrel in July.
Prices fell by almost a third last month, their biggest monthly drop ever.
OPEC has not ruled out making its third output cut in as many months, but some believe the full impact of its existing cuts have yet to be felt.
"Combined with weakening non-OPEC supplies, the projected OPEC's output curtailment suggests that the oil market could actually tighten moving into 2009," Barclays Capital said in a research note.
Oil futures prices several years out are already showing a return to an upward track. For November 2010, for example, the price is above $70 a barrel and for November 2013 more than $80.
Several OPEC delegates have said the Cairo gathering is likely only to measure compliance with existing cuts, leaving a decision on any further reduction until the group's next policy-setting meeting on December 17 in Algeria.
Shokri Ghanem, the head of the Libyan OPEC delegation, has said another immediate cut should not be ruled out.
Iran's Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said on Friday the Cairo talks would likely review market conditions but defer any final decisions on output levels to their meeting next month.
"It is a consultative meeting," he said.
(Additional reporting by Maryelle Demongeot in Singapore; editing by James Jukwey)
