OPEC: No cut in oil production and prices keep falling

Officials met for six hours of negotiations in Vienna. It would have been the first cut in production since 2008. But Saudia Arabia, the largest among OPEC members, was against the cut in output -- in a bid to retain market share and hold off competition from U.S. shale production. Brent crude, the European benchmark, was down by about 7% at $72.60 after it was announced that production will remain around 30 million barrels a day. The price of light crude, the U.S. benchmark, plunged about 7% to below $69 per barrel. Analysts say a cut of around 1.5 million barrels a day would be needed to support oil prices. The lack of action is bad news for oil-producing countries like Russia, Nigeria and Venezuela, which depend on prices of at least $90 a barrel to meet their economic targets, CNNMoney reports. The Russian ruble took a 2.5% plunge after the announcement. The country is not a member of OPEC, but asked the group for solidarity ahead of the meeting. Over half of the government's revenue comes from oil and gas and low prices are putting extra pressure on its economy. Details also at