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WORLD oil prices weakened in Asian trade on Monday with Opec's decision to cut supply at a time of global financial turmoil seen as hurting already weak energy demand further, dealers said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery dropped 22 cents to US$63.93(S$96.33) a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for December delivery fell 33 cents to US$61.72 dollars a barrel.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), in a bid to shore up falling prices, announced on Friday its output will be cut by 1.5 million barrels per day to 27.3 million barrels starting November.
'Opec is obviously aware of the problems facing the global economy,' said Mr David Moore, a Sydney-based commodity strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
'They were responding to weaker oil consumption... It was quite a decisive move by Opec on Friday', he said.
Opec's number two producer, Iran, said on Sunday the cartel is likely to cut back further on production if the latest reduction does not stabilise crude prices.
'Be assured that if (Friday's) decision is not effective on the market, Opec will take steps to consolidate the market and stabilise prices at its next meeting,' Iran's representative Mohammad Ali Khatibi said in an interview on state television.
Opec said its decision on Friday to slash output would be reviewed at the cartel's next meeting in Oran, Algeria, on December 17.
Many analysts have questioned the effectiveness of measures taken by Opec, given the seriousness of the global financial crisis that has sharply reduced the prospects for economic growth and thus oil consumption.
Mr Humphrey Harrison, managing director of energy consultants Horizon Strategies said the market can expect more Opec meetings on output policy over the next few months.
'We're in wholly unchartered territory right now' regarding the financial crisis, Mr Harrison told AFP. 'We're probably going to see many Opec meetings for a while', added the oil analyst.
Opec said in its statement on Friday published alongside its output decision that 'the financial crisis is already having a noticeable impact on the world economy, dampening the demand for energy, in general, and oil in particular.'
'Moreover, forecasts indicate that the fall in demand will deepen, despite the approach of winter in the northern hemisphere', the cartel said.
Opec produces about 40 per cent of the world's crude.
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