VIENNA, November 21 (QNA) - The price of the OPEC crude basket dropped by $ 1.83 to settle at $ 44.06 per barrel (pb), from $ 45.89 pb the day before, the OPEC bulletin said on Friday.
The OPEC bulletin said that the average price last year was $ 69.10 pb.
The cartel's basket, which is a reference for the organization concerning the production policy, includes Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Minas (Indonesia), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE), BCF-17 (Venezuela) and Oriente (Ecuador).
OPEC ministers last month decided to cut oil output by 1.5 million barrels-a-day as of early November in a bid to curb drops at international oil markets.
In spite of the cartel's output slash, OPEC still finds it very difficult for the time being to rein amongst sliding oil prices in light of the global economic crisis.
OPEC is concerned that there could be further drops in prices due to forecasts of low global demand for oil next year.

OPEC price for crude falls to 44.06 US dlrs pb 

The price for crude oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) fell to 44.06 dollars Thursday, the first time it went below 45 dollars since May 2005. One barrel (159 litres) of OPEC crude cost 1.83 dollars less on Thursday than on the previous day, the Vienna-based cartel said on Friday. OPEC calculates an average basket price based on 13 important brands produced by its members. (Qna)