Bouncing back from Friday’s four-year low, oil settled $2.90 higher at $43.71 Monday after OPEC President Chakib Khelil said the group may cut production later this month.

On Saturday, Khelil said the group of oil producing nations may announce a “severe” reduction at its Dec. 17 meeting in Algeria. Although Khelil did not specify the amount, he noted that some analysts are predicting a decline of two million barrels per day.

A cut in production that startles markets would help bolster plunging oil prices, Khelil said in an interview with the Associated Press.

“The best way is to surprise them,” he said. “I hope it will.”

Oil prices fell nearly three dollars Friday to settle at $40.81. Oil traded as low as $40.50, levels not seen since December 2004.

“Oil prices dropped nearly 25% in one week, and that’s never really happened before,” said Fedel Gheit, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. “Oil prices just overcorrected themselves on the downside, just like prices rebounded back down when they went too high on the upside.”

Oil is currently selling nearly 70% lower than it did when it peaked at $147.27 in July.

Gas prices dropped in the past month to a current national average of $1.72 from $2.82 in November, according to AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

Still, recent events have proven that the markets don’t always follow OPEC’s announcements, Gheit explained. “The market will be skeptical. Investors won’t believe what they hear from OPEC. They will believe what they see from OPEC,” he said.

Jim Halloran, an energy analyst with National City Private Client Group, said OPEC’s announcement might not directly influence investors.

In fact, a reduction in October by 1.5 million did not help stabilize prices.

“I don’t think that anyone really believes that OPEC will be disciplined about what they are doing because they didn’t follow through with all of their cuts. If they actually follow through with their next cut, the market will get the positive effect because people will see that the discipline is all in tact,” he said.

In other Nymex trading, wholesale gas climbed 6.06 cents to settle at $0.96. Heating oil rose slightly higher, by 6.39 cents, to settle at $1.49. Natural gas slipped 1.76 cents to settle at $5.57.

February gold rose $17.10 to settle at $769.30 an ounce in the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. March silver settled 54.5 cents higher at $9.98.