Tonight:
5°c
Oil below $70 on demand worry
Bill Condie, Evening Standard23 Oct 2008
Oil prices edged up today ahead of an Opec meeting tomorrow but remained well below $70 on fears demand will shrink as recession bites.
New York's light sweet December crude rose 75 cents to $67.50 a barrel while Brent was 74 cents higher at $65.26. Several Opec countries will call for a cut in output of between one million and 2.5 million barrels a day at the Vienna meeting, to help shore up oil prices.
Opec president Chakib Khelil said the organisation must weigh the impact of any cut in output on consumers and producers.
"This is going to be a very important meeting," he said. "It comes in the middle of a financial crisis where lots of countries have been affected."
He said that Opec did not want producers that are affected by the financial crisis to be further hit by "very low" oil prices.
