Nevertheless, Shukri Ghanem - the head of Libya's national oil firm and its envoy to the Opec oil cartel - did not explicitly repeat his call for oil production to be cut when the organisation meets in Cairo on November 29.
Mr Ghanem said the group should examine whether the fall in prices was the result of weaker consumption in oil importing countries or of speculators liquidating their positions in the market.
'The oil market needs some kind of action,' he said. But he added: 'Of course the falling price hits our earnings, but we're not worried because it can't last. We expect a turn around.'
Oil prices have plunged 60 per cent since a high in July of US$147.50.
Last week, Mr Ghanem had explicitly called for further production cuts. In August, Opec slashed 1.5 million barrels per day fom its output, but failed to halt the slide in prices.
The cartel will meet in Egypt next week and then again on December 17 in the Algerian port of Oran. -- AFP