The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries left a Cairo meeting without an agreement to cut production, according to various media reports.

In recent years, the international oil cartel has seen significant disagreement between its member countries, especially between U.S. allies in Arab nations like Saudi Arabia and U.S. adversaries Iran and Venezuela.

In a statement, Algerian Oil Minister Chakib Khelil said "Ministers have agreed to take any additional decision on Dec. 17 to balance oil supply and demand and to achieve market stability."

In October, OPEC cut its oil production by 1.5 million barrels a day.  U.S. adversaries have been quietly concerned that American allies have not cut their production while demand has dropped amid the global financial crisis.

Crude oil (OIL) futures fell under $50 last week on speculation, among other things, that U.S. president elect Barack Obama would be much less heavy handed in his approach to foreign policy matters.  Some have also suggested that there is heavy unregulated short selling on crude oil as hedge funds continue to desperately look for ways to profit and manage their risk.

Oil's production cuts, however, have recently proven ineffective in convincing the market that it will have significant effect.  Traders seem to be more interested in significant international events and continue to watch for any possibility of an Israeli attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran.  Any hint of attack would cause oil to skyrocket.  However, chatter about an attack has faded away as many doubt U.S. president Bush has any political ammunition remaining with less than sixty days in office.