OPEC oil prices drop below 80 dollars amid demand worries

VIENNA, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- The daily average crude oil prices of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Wednesday dropped below 80 dollars per barrel for the first time since Oct. 2007, the Vienna-based cartel said on Thursday.

The OPEC crude fell to 77.38 dollars per barrel on Wednesday after having dropped for eight consecutive trading days on investor fears that crude demand would weaken as a result of the global financial turmoil.

The OPEC oil prices have dropped by more than 43 percent within only three months, tumbling sharply from the record high of 147 dollars in July.

Over the last few days, the world stock markets have suffered heavy losses amid the spreading banking crisis. The three major stock indices of the United States, Dow Jones Industrial Average, NASDAQ and The Standard & Poor's 500 index have already slumped for six consecutive days.

On Wednesday, the three biggest stock markets in Europe, Paris, London and Frankfurt also witnessed the lowest stock prices at least for the last three years.

In a bid to ease the financial crisis, the United States has adopted a 700-billion-dollar rescue plan, and Britain also announced a bailout package of more than 80 billion dollars on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, central banks from the United States, Canada, Britain and Sweden and the European Central Bank (ECB) have acted in a concerted move to slash interest rates.

However, markets are waiting to see whether the coordinated effort could boost investor confidence and avert a global recession, analysts said.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted in a report released on Wednesday U.S. economic growth would drop from 1.6 percent in 2008 to 0.1 percent in 2009, while growth in the Eurozone would fall from 1.3 percent to 0.2 percent.

Japan could post a mere 0.5 percent growth in 2009, according to the IMF.

Experts said that fears of slowing demand for energy on the world market amid a global economic slowdown are a major factor for causing world oil prices to fall.

Against the backdrop, there are rising calls within OPEC for further production cuts to stabilize oil prices.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Wednesday that OPEC should convene an urgent meeting for discussion on cutting crude production.