Originally published December 1, 2008 at 12:00 AM | Page modified December 1, 2008 at 11:17 AM

Oil futures fall on OPEC inaction

Crude-oil futures fell $1.33 to $53.10 a barrel in after-hours trading in New York after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries deferred for two more weeks a decision to reduce output.

By Bloomberg News

Crude-oil futures fell $1.33 to $53.10 a barrel in after-hours trading in New York after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries deferred for two more weeks a decision to reduce output.

Slowing global growth means demand will be "much lower" than expected a month ago, OPEC said after the group's meeting Saturday in Cairo, Egypt.

OPEC pumps about 40 percent of the world's oil.

Slowing demand means the global market is oversupplied by more than 2 million barrels a day, Iranian Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said Sunday.

Prices around $75 a barrel would be "fair" and would support investment in new fields, al-Naimi said.

U.S. crude-oil inventories jumped 2.3 percent to 320.8 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 21, the most in six months, according to Energy Department data.

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