DAVID HAFFENREFFER, CNN ANCHOR: The price of oil this morning is to the up side. We have an OPEC meeting coming up this week that there is much speculation around that perhaps there will be a cut in the production levels coming out of the OPEC nations.</s>DEBORAH MARCHINI, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson has been touring the Middle East asking OPEC to hold the line, but apparently without much success. Lionel Barber of the "Financial Times" joins us from the "FT"'s London newsroom to look at the impact on Europe of production cuts. Lionel, what's your sense? The conventional wisdom is that Europe might be hurt even more than the United States.</s>LIONEL BARBER, NEWS EDITOR, "FINANCIAL TIMES": Well, good morning, Debbie. For our perspective in Europe, we're looking at something around just below three percent growth this year, and we don't want anything that's going to dampen that number. So I think that there are a lot of messages going out privately to the OPEC member countries saying look at what's happening in the states, look at the potential for a real slowdown there -- Europe is still growing, so you need to be very careful when you're considering what cut to make. So I think something around between one million to 1 1/2 million barrels a day would be OK. Just one other point, Debbie: We're not doing the kind of public megaphone diplomacy that outgoing Secretary Richardson is doing. We like to do things a little bit more quietly over here.</s>MARCHINI: All right, Lionel Barber, reporting live from the "Financial Times," we thank you.
'Financial Times': OPEC Meeting This Week Could Impact European, U.S. Markets