Crude prices down nearly $4 as OPEC defers production cut
01 Dec 2008
Crude oil prices fell nearly $4 a barrel on Monday after OPEC deferred an expected cut in production and said it would wait until the next meeting, scheduled for mid-December, to consider any further production cuts.
US sweet light crude for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $3.85 to $50.58 a barrel.
North Sea Brent crude on the ICE futures fell more than $2 a barrel to $51 after OPEC decided to keep production at current levels. Brent hit a 47-month low of $47.40 a barrel on Nov. 21 but rallied last week to trade mostly above the psychologically important $50 level.
The 12-member OPEC, which supplies over 40 per cent of the global oil market, has, meanwhile, sought help from oil producers outside the oil cartel to boost prices.
OPEC held an emergency meeting in Cairo on Friday to discuss the global decline in demand that has driven crude prices down more than $95 a barrel from $147.27 on July 17.
OPEC had in October announced production cuts of 1.5 million barrels a day. But prices have fallen more than 13 per cent since then. There is also some concern on the level of compliance by OPEC member nations to the group's' decisions to cut production.
