Crude oil plummets to $61 a barrel

LONDON: Crude oil prices today tumbled to 61 dollars a barrel level as fears spread about recession soon gripping the leading economies like the US and the UK and a proposed production cut by OPEC also failed to halt the slide.
Hitting its lowest level in about one-and-a-half years, the Brent Crude price today fell to a low of 61.07 dollars a barrel, before recovering partially to 62.5 dollars here.

New York's main light sweet crude oil contract also fell to 62.65 dollars and was trading near 64.6 dollars.

Both Brent and New York crude contracts for December delivery fell by over 5 dollars per barrel.

The crude oil prices plunged despite the oil producing countries' group OPEC saying it would cut the output by 1.5 million barrels per day -- the first cut in nearly two years.

OPEC has proposed to cut the production from November 1 and the decision was made at a meeting held in Vienna today. This was being seen as an attempt on OPEC's side to halt the sharp plunge in crude prices from a high of 147.27 dollars in July to less than half of that level currently.

The plunge in crude prices came on the back of reports that economic recession is imminent in the US and the UK.