Paris (Platts)--21Oct2014/552 am EDT/952 GMT

OPEC could in the future take action to respond to the recent fall in oil prices, Algerian energy ministry official Ali Hached said in Paris Tuesday.

"Collectively OPEC can respond to the excess supply that we have on the market," he said.

Answering questions at the 19th Gas and Electricity Summit organized by Petrostrategies, Hached said "this situation is not new" and added that "we've already faced major fluctuations in oil prices" in the past.

He noted comments earlier in the meeting from Olivier Appert, head of the IFP Energies Nouvelles research institute. Appert had recalled the oil price falls of 1985/86, as well as the way that OPEC had reacted to the dramatic fall in prices in the immediate aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2008.

Brent crude prices fell back to around $40/barrel in 2008, but were back to $100 by early 2011.

Hached said for "most countries" the fall in prices "challenges their ability to receive the revenues they need for their own development."

He said producers should wait to see how the market responds and then OPEC could also respond.

--Alex Froley, alex.froley@platts.com

--Edited by Jeremy Lovell, jeremy.lovell@platts.com

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