Vienna, Austria ? The OPEC oil cartel made a pre-emptive cut of 900,000 barrels in its daily production target for crude Wednesday in an effort to bolster prices ahead of an expected decrease in demand early next year.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to lower its output ceiling to 24.5 million barrels starting in November.

The 3.5 percent cut startled the market, where oil futures jumped more than $1 a barrel.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan, with President Bush in New York, would not comment directly on the OPEC move but said the economy depended on stable oil supplies and prices.

One analyst said he expected consumer prices for gasoline and heating oil to stay near current levels. OPEC pumps about a third of the world’s crude.

The surprise decision came after a meeting that also saw Iraq’s return to OPEC for the first time since Saddam Hussein’s ouster, despite earlier objections from Venezuela.

Although the market is currently “well supplied,” OPEC is taking preventive action now to try to keep prices stable before an expected dip in seasonal demand in the first quarter of 2004, group spokesman Omar Ibrahim told a news conference at OPEC’s Vienna headquarters.

At current output levels, OPEC predicts that the daily supply of crude will outstrip demand by 2.5 million barrels by April. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, speaking earlier, called the cut a possible “first step” and did not rule out an additional reduction later in the year.

“It is better that we start before we witness a very bad situation in the market,” he said before oil ministers met privately to approve the cut.

Iraq's Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum speaks to reporters. Iraq, a founding member of OPEC, participated in OPEC's policy discussions Wednesday for the first time since the ouster of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

OPEC wants independent, nonOPEC producers such as Russia to take “concrete measures” to restrain their own output, Ibrahim said, although the cartel is not making its cut conditional on that cooperation, as it did in December 2001.

OPEC was widely expected to keep its daily production ceiling at 25.4 million barrels. However, a recent slide in prices and OPEC’s expectations of a surge in oil inventories among major importing countries have compounded its fears about a further softening of the market.

Iraq’s gradual return to the market also was a factor. Zanganeh noted that a cut of 900,000 barrels would return OPEC’s output target to what it was until April, when the war in Iraq removed that country temporarily from the market.

Iraq, a founding member of OPEC, participated in its policy discussions for the first time since the toppling of Saddam.

Iraq’s new oil minister, Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum, took his place between counterparts from Kuwait and Iran at the U-shaped table in the OPEC Secretariat.

Iraq was not seeking a production quota of its own. It now produces about 1.8 million barrels of oil a day — 700,000 barrels less than on the eve of the war. It exports some 900,000 barrels a day, the Iraqi oil minister said earlier.

Qatar Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, OPEC president, speaks during a news conference after a meeting of the oil ministers. OPEC agreed Wednesday to reduce its output ceiling by 900,000 barrels a day to 24.5 million barrels.

“When Iraq returns to normal production, we will discuss with Iraq how to accommodate them. … Give them time, and then we will discuss this,” OPEC President Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah said.

OPEC wants to keep the price of its benchmark blend of crudes stable within a targeted range of $22-$28 a barrel. The benchmark price stood at $25.14 on Tuesday, the most recent day for which OPEC calculated it.

Crude oil futures soared on reports about OPEC’s planned decision. Contracts of U.S. light, sweet crude for November delivery rose $1.11 to settle at $28.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. November contracts of North Sea Brent crude rose $1.15 to settle at $26.67 a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange in London.

Tor Kartevold, a special adviser on the oil market for Norway’s state-owned company Statoil, argued that OPEC’s cut would not affect consumers. It was obvious that the market would weaken in the fourth quarter unless OPEC acted soon to scale back supplies, he said.

“I think they will have to cut further, possibly later this year,” Kartevold said.

The group plans to meet again Dec. 4 to reassess market conditions.