Saudi oil minister says OPEC price pact is near

Saudi Arabia's oil minister, Ahmad Zaki Yamani, said an OPEC pricing agreement was imminent. The cartel could hold a full meeting to set a new bench-mark price for crude as early as Saturday, Mr. Yamani said. His statements in an interview on French television were the most optimistic public signal so far that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries might avoid a global price war and solve the worst crisis in its 23-year history.