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Oil tumbles as recession fear outweighs OPEC output cut

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-25 00:06

NEW YORK -- Oil prices slid more than 7 percent Friday morning as the fear of a global recession outweighed OPEC's decision to cut crude output.

Light, sweet crude for December delivery tumbled to as low as US$62.85 a barrel, trading down US$4.99, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Related readings:  OPEC agrees to cut oil output  Oil edges up after sharp fall; eyes on OPEC  Oil tumbles to 16-month low, below $67

OPEC announced a slash of 1.5 million barrels daily crude production on its emergent meeting in Vienna Friday, in an effort to stabilize the sharp falling of oil prices.

But the decision had little influence on the commodity market as investors feared that the global economy may enter a deep recession, which would force consumers and businesses to cut back on energy consumption. US stocks plunged at the opening Friday with Dow shedding 400 points. Major indexes in Asian market ended sharply lower as well.

Crude oil has shed more than 57 percent since its record high of US$147.27 a barrel on July 11.