May 15 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela wants the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to enforce a December output cut when it meets later this month, Oil and Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said.

The South American country, which is “worried” about world oil inventory levels, wants OPEC to “reinforce” previous cuts, Ramirez told reporters today in Buenos Aires. The group meets again on May 28.

“We are worried about the levels of inventories; this is a bad signal for the stability of the market,” Ramirez said. “We are going to reinforce the strategy approved by OPEC in December. The price of oil is responding to our strategy.”

In December, OPEC agreed to reduce quotas by a larger-than- expected 9 percent to revive prices. Since then, member countries have exceeded production quotas, with output rising by more than 200,000 barrels a day in April, OPEC said May 13.

Ramirez’s statements indicate Venezuela will either “push for better compliance or additional cuts” at the next meeting, said Ed Morse, head of economic research at LCM Commodities LLC in New York. Still, “the market believes OPEC has probably cut enough oil out.”

Existing Cuts

The cartel, whose members produce about 40 percent of the world’s crude, decided in March to keep quotas the same, saying it needed to focus on enforcing the existing cuts. Morse expects them to do the same at this meeting. Venezuela in March had called for a further reduction.

President Hugo Chavez said May 13 that the group’s decision to make record output cuts since September were the cause of rising oil prices.

Crude oil for June delivery fell $2.28 a barrel, or 3.9 percent, to $56.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange today, its biggest decline since April 20. It has climbed 26 percent this year.

To contact the reporters on this story: Bill Faries in Buenos Aires at wfaries@bloomberg.net; Steven Bodzin in Caracas at sbodzin@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 15, 2009 18:49 EDT