Oil prices retreated Friday despite a greater likelihood that OPEC will again reduce output to boost prices when it meets later this month.

Edmund Daukoru, who is Nigeria's oil minister and president of the 11-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, said the group is likely to trim production again and he expects a cut of at least 500,000 barrels a day.

That echoed comments Thursday from Venezuelan oil minister Rafael Ramirez, who said OPEC could cut production by half a million barrels a day when it meets Dec. 14 in Abuja.

"There is likely to be some further trimming, the actual amount will depend on the circumstances," said Daukoru. While the specific amount will be decided at the OPEC meeting based on data and trends, "I don't expect anything less" than 500,000 barrels per day to be cut, he said.

Light sweet crude for January delivery was down 74 cents to $62.39 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange by afternoon in Europe. Brent crude was down 77 cents at $63.49 on London's ICE Futures exchange.

Prices had jumped to two-month highs Thursday on news of declining U.S. fuel inventories and the approach of the Northern Hemisphere winter, when heating fuel demand rises. In addition, Vienna's PVM Oil Associates said "increased trading activity on the expiry day of the December contract may have also contributed to rising prices."

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that OPEC members had reached a consensus to keep oil prices at $50 a barrel. The weekly average for the OPEC basket price this week currently stands above $56 a barrel.

Traders said Chavez's comment suggested that the 11-member group was not seeking a significant increase in crude oil prices. Others said they expected the market to regain an upward momentum, prompted in part by the approach of the Northern Hemisphere winter and declining U.S. stocks.

"Prices will rise again soon given lower U.S. oil stocks and with funds coming back to the market," said Ken Hasegawa, a broker with Himawari CX in Tokyo.

Heating oil futures for January delivery fell by 2 cents to $1.8300 per gallon, while unleaded gasoline futures dropped more than a cent to $1.6560 a gallon. At the end of the year the unleaded gasoline futures contract will be replaced by another as a result of changing environmental regulations.

Natural gas fell nearly 17 cents to $8.675 per 1,000 cubic feet.