Nigerian Oil Minister and Opec President Edmund Daukoru "is optimistic" that a consensus "could be formed between today and Monday," but "no formal decision has been taken," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Discussions would take place over the weekend on whether to slice daily production of Opec members by a million barrels, the official added.

Official figures released in August put total Opec production at just under 30 million barrels a day.

The official also described as "incorrect" a report of an emergency Opec meeting in Vienna October 18-19, published by Algeria's official APS news agency. Algeria is a member of the cartel.

The Financial Times reported Thursday that Opec had agreed informally to cut crude output by one million barrels per day, or 4.0 percent, to bolster prices that have fallen by about 25 percent from record levels in July and August.

A majority of the cartel back a voluntary reduction and the deal could be ratified as early as a mid-December meeting in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, the FT said.

Its report came less than a week after Opec members Nigeria and Venezuela voluntarily began reducing their oil production by a combined 170,000 barrels per day.

The Financial Times also said that Saudi Arabia, the world's top producer and Opec's most important member, was unhappy with the move towards voluntary cuts even though it has quietly cut its output by 200,000 bpd over the past two months.