The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) basket oil price used by the cartel to set its production quotas slumped by nearly two dollars to 16.19 dollars yesterday, OPEC's secretariat said today.
The slump, from 18.09 dollars the previous day, came after the 11-member cartel agreed on Wednesday to cut its output by 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) - but only on condition that non-OPEC producers cut by 500,000 bpd.
Under a price band mechanism, OPEC has aimed to keep its basket price - based on an average of seven world crudes - at between $22 and $28.
But the price slumped through the floor of this range rapidly amid growing fears of a global economic slowdown following the September 11th terror attacks in the United States.
AFP