Crude oil prices rose above 62 dollars on Thursday after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said it would reduce its daily oil production by 500,000 barrels with effect from Feb. 1, 2007.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in January, rose 1.14 dollars to close at 62.51 dollars per barrel.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for January delivery climbed 79 cents to close at 62.12 dollars.

OPEC President Edmund Daukoru told a news conference on Thursday afternoon in the Nigerian capital Abuja that the 143rd OPEC Extraordinary Conference observed that market fundamentals indicated that there was ample crude supply, high stocks levels and increasing spare capacity to justify further reduction in the organization's crude oil production.

With the new production cut, OPEC's total production level will drop from 26.3 million bpd to 25.8 million bpd.

He said the conference also noted that the global economy is projected to slow down in 2007, while world oil demand is estimated to increase by 1.3 million barrels by next year.