OPEC Slashes 1.5M Barrels a Day to Boost Oil Prices

By Clay Dillow,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 24, 2008 7:14 AM CDT
OPEC Slashes 1.5M Barrels a Day to Boost Oil Prices
Consumers got another break at the gas pump Monday, as prices dropped further below $3 a gallon in parts of the country, but OPEC said Friday it would slash production to bolster sagging pump prices.   (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)

OPEC today decided to take 1.5 million barrels of oil per day off the markets to boost prices flirting with 16-month lows, the Wall Street Journal reports. The deep cut will take effect next month. “This slowdown in oil demand is serving to exacerbate the situation in a market which has been oversupplied for some time,” OPEC said in a statement.

OPEC’s secretary-general said oil has nothing to do with problems in global financial markets, but the slide in oil prices has endangered oil-development projects. Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s biggest producer, will cut production by 466,000 barrels per day; Iran will cut 199,000 barrels per day. OPEC’s action didn’t stop the slide, with oil $3.34 lower at $64.50 a barrel in London midday trading.
(More OPEC stories.)

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