OPEC reaches a production sharing accord

OPEC oil ministers Sunday night patched together a production sharing agreement that would slash their daily output ceiling by a million barrels a day , conference sources said.

But they stressed that final agreement hinged on the acceptance of other aspects of an OPEC peace package deal that could shave the exporter group's current marker price of $34 a barrel. Under the tentative accord Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, would cut its production ceiling by two million barrels a day to five million.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries were meeting to devise a production program that would satisfy all 13 members and defend prices in a recession-hit market.