New York, Oct. 17 : Oil prices have for the first time in 14 months dropped below the 70 dollar per barrel mark, prompting the Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to consider summoning an emergency meeting next week to establish some stability in prices.

A New York Times report said the oil prices have tumbled by nearly 40 dollars a barrel in just three weeks as indications grow that demand for energy will slow along with weakening economies around the world.

As recently as July, oil was trading at a record of 145 dollars a barrel, the report said.

Vienna - Declining by nearly 5 dollars, the price for crude oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has fallen below 70 dollars, OPEC said Thursday.

One barrel (159 litres) of OPEC crude stood at 68.58 dollars Wednesday, 4.91 dollars lower than 73.49 dollars on the previous day.

Citing the negative effect of the financial crisis on global oil demand, the cartel lowered its global crude oil demand forecast for 2009 by 450,000 barrels per day, to an average 87.2 million barrels per day.

The group's oil ministers are set to gather for an extraordinary session in Vienna on November 18 to discuss possible production cuts in reaction to falling oil prices.

Vienna - The price for crude oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) rose by 1.53 dollars Tuesday, staying below the 75-dollar mark, OPEC said Wednesday.

Brussels - The European Union's member states should be able to react to sudden gas shut-offs by transferring part of their own consumption to fellow-members, the French government is set to say at an EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday.

And the EU should try to obtain more energy from Africa and hold a "high-level meeting" with the countries of the Caspian basin and transit states such as Turkey and Georgia in spring 2009 in a bid to kick-start the diversification of gas supplies, the proposal adds.

Vienna - The price for crude

Islamabad - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari warned that any breach of a river water-sharing treaty by India will be detrimental to the peace process between the nuclear-armed neighbours, media reports said on Monday.

The statement came two days after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the controversial 450-megawatt Baglihar hydroelectric project over the Chenab River that flows from Indian-administered Kashmir into Pakistan.