Oil prices continued to slip today despite a warning from within OPEC that the industry cartel could take up to two million barrels per day of crude off world markets.
Reference Brent North Sea crude for May delivery fell 20 cents to $24.27 a barrel in early trading.
New York's benchmark light sweet crude contract for May delivery dipped 19 cents a barrel to $27.27 in out-of-hours electronic trading, having plummeted by $1.39 the day before.
The falls came in spite of a source with the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) warning that the cartel could slash production if it stuck rigidly to its production quotas.
"The market is oversupplied by two million barrels a day. What we need to do is to take these off the market ... by strictly sticking to our quotas," the source said .
The organisation is expected to hold a meeting on April 24th to consider a cut in production.
Today's price falls had come as traders anticipated the imminent return of Iraqi oil to the market after US-backed Kurdish forces took the northern oil city of Kirkuk.
Agencies