Oil prices rose in Asia on Wednesday as traders awaited an expected cut in output by the OPEC cartel desperate to stop a slide in prices, analysts said.

New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, rose 59 cents to $44.19 a barrel after dropping 91 cents to $43.60 at the close of trading Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent North Sea crude for February rose 82 cents to $47.47 a barrel.

The January Brent contract expired at the close of trading on Tuesday, down four cents at $44.56 in London.

"The market is in a holding pattern" ahead of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting later today in Oran, Algeria, said Dave Ernsberger, of global energy information provider Platts, in Singapore.

OPEC, whose 13-member nations together pump close to 40 percent of world oil, will announce an output cut of about two million barrels a day following the meeting, the Saudi Arabian oil minister said after he arrived in Oran.

"Supply is still somewhat in excess" of demand, Ali al-Nuaimi said.

"Inventories are also higher than normal. To bring things in balance there will be a cut of about two million barrels."

The organisation's official daily output target is 27.3 million barrels but analysts say it is producing slightly more than this as some members seek to boost income.