LONDON, Oct 11 – Oil prices fell slightly on Monday as attention switched to the OPEC oil producers\’ cartel which holds its latest output meeting this week.
Brent North Sea crude for delivery in November fell 38 cents to 83.65 dollars a barrel in afternoon London trade.
New York\’s main contract, light sweet crude for November, slipped 22 cents to 82.44 dollars a barrel.
"The week ahead looks quite interesting with investors paying attention to the next OPEC meeting in Vienna on Thursday, regarding production quotas and (output) compliance issues," said Sucden Financial Research analyst Myrto Sokou.
Oil prices have ranged between 70 and 80 dollars for the past year — a level deemed reasonable by most OPEC members still faced with an uncertain demand outlook as countries struggle to recover from the global downturn.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which produces 40 percent of the world\’s oil, has had an official production level of 24.84 million barrels a day since January 2009.
But member nations are failing to stick by the agreed cuts and OPEC in fact pumped out 26.83 million barrels a day in August, according to data from the International Energy Agency, a body representing oil consumer nations.
