At 08:37 a.m. Moscow time (05:37 GMT) the price of WTI light sweet crude oil futures had decreased by 1.87 percent and was trading at $72.73 per barrel, while Brent crude futures were trading at $76.52 per barrel, falling by 2.37 percent.
Crude oil prices have fallen some 30 percent since June as the United States has increased its production, while demand has lowered amid slowing growth in China and Europe.
Representatives from Venezuela, Libya and Ecuador have voiced their support for cutting oil production, while Saudi Arabia, the organization’s largest oil producer, has so far been reluctant to take a firm stance on the issue.
Earlier in the week, the country’s Oil Minister Ali Naimi stated, however, that he expects the oil market “to stabilize itself eventually.”
A Tuesday meeting between OPEC-members Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, and non-members Russia and Mexico did not result in an agreement to curb output. Russian energy giant Rosneft head Igor Sechin told Bloomberg following the talks that Russia would not need to cut production even if oil prices fell below $60 a barrel.
OPEC currently has 12 member states, namely Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. OPEC controls some 40 percent of the world's oil output.
