Oil price hits new low as OPEC squabbles.(Brief Article)

The outcome of the meeting of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries oil ministers in Vienna on Nov. 25 has taken the oil industry by surprise.

While few expected any great price-reviving agreement from the meeting, even fewer anticipated that OPEC ministers would decide on virtually nothing. The ministers agreed that, henceforth, its twice-yearly meeting would take place in March and September, rather than in June and November, with the next meeting in Vienna Mar. 23. And that was it. Most analysts expected OPEC to agree to extend its current production agreement to yearend 1999, and the failure to agree even to this was seen as evidence of divided views over …