The weekly average oil prices of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) dropped to 57.68 U.S. dollars per barrel (dpb) last week, the Vienna-based cartel said Monday.
It is the first time that the weekly prices dived below 60 dpb since the end of March 2007.
Investor concerns over further declines in crude oil demand under the impact of the global financial crisis have kept pressing recent oil prices lower.
The strengthening U.S. dollar exchange rate has also attributed to some extent to the dive in all the dollar-quoted prices, including that of crude oil.
Oil prices have fallen by more than 50 percent since reaching a record high of over 147 U.S. dollars in mid-July.
At an emergency meeting in Vienna on Oct. 24, OPEC ministers agreed to reduce output by 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) to 27.3 million bpd from Nov. 1, in an attempt to stem the slide.
However, the decision failed to live up to their expectations.
Experts said OPEC's production slash was too small in view of the shrinking global oil demand.
In addition, some OPEC member states have not seriously followed the production cut decision, reports said.
OPEC President Chakib Khelil reminded Saudi Arabia Sunday that it should consider the overall situation of stabilizing oil prices and cut its crude output in line with the bloc's decision.
Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hussein Nosari also called on OPEC Saturday to hold another emergency meeting to seek solutions if international oil prices declined further.
Meanwhile, OPEC's daily average prices dived to 55.9 dpb on Oct. 28, marking a drop of over 60 percent from 140.73 dpb on July3 this year.
Source: Xinhua
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