Following a dive to below 80 U.S. dollars per barrel (dpb) on Oct. 8, the weekly average prices of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) dropped to 77.98 dpb last week, for the first time below 80 dpb since the second week of 2007, said the Vienna-based cartel Monday.
Concerns that the worldwide financial crisis will cause an economic recession, which will further shrink demand on crude oil, have pulled oil prices lower and lower.
On Oct. 10, the International Energy Agency again lowered its expectation on growth of international crudes for 2008 and 2009.
International crudes demand, especially in industrialized countries, will decrease due to sharp deceleration of international economic growth led by financial crisis, according to its estimation.
This expectation had impact on OPEC oil prices, which dropped to 72.67 dpb on Oct. 10 from 78.24 dpb on the previous day, making a daily drop of 5.57 dpb.
Iran, OPEC's second largest oil producer, had said that it is "inappropriate" for the oil prices to fall below 100 dpb.
Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hussein Nosari on Sunday called on to stabilize crudes market, saying that the biggest challenge facing the current international crudes market is the lowered demand caused by the worldwide financial crisis.
On the same day, Chakib Khelil, President of OPEC Conference and also Algeria's Minister of Energy and Mines, noted that if there shows an excessive supply on the international crudes market, OPEC may cut production to keep the market supply-demand balance.
The next OPEC Ministerial Conference is scheduled to be held on Dec. 17, but in view of the current rapidly falling oil prices, an emergency meeting was announced to be held on Nov. 18 in Vienna to review oil market conditions so as to find solutions.
On July 3, the daily average prices of OPEC once topped 140.73 dpb.
Source: Xinhua
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