Opec oil ministers agreed to keep the group’s oil output target unchanged for the rest of this year at their twice yearly meeting in Vienna yesterday.

Voters narrowly elected Hugo Chavez's hand-picked successor as president today, in a razor-close election.

1. Opec.

The global economic downturn prompted the International Energy Agency to slash its forecast for oil demand growth yesterday by more than a fifth for the year.

While the fall in oil prices will be welcomed, the fact that it has been precipitated by a slowdown in the pace of economic recovery is less happy news

The oil price followed stock markets down and then up yesterday but is now $20 down on its peak during 2011

Outlook So that went well. A month ago tomorrow, President Obama surprised world markets by persuading the International Energy Agency to release some of its oil reserves for only the third time in its 37-year history. The oil price immediately slipped back from about $113 a barrel to about $103.

Global demand for oil is set to accelerate in 2012, ramping up pressure on prices, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned yesterday.

Outlook There's no doubt Opec made a hash of its last meeting in Vienna, where the cartel could not agree on an increase in oil production. Still, the intervention by the IEA yesterday, led by the US, is a curious one. This is only the third time the IEA has released emergency reserves in this way. The last two occasions were in the aftermaths of the first Gulf War and Hurricane Katrina. Is the current situation really of that magnitude?

The International Energy Agency (IEA) upped the pressure on the Opec yesterday by hiking its oil demand estimates and warning of the “damaging implications” for the global economy if the oil producers’ cartel does not increase supply.

Economic View

Opec was said to be on the point of "break-up" last night after a meeting of the world's biggest oil producers ended in disagreement over whether or not to raise output as the world economy struggles under the strain of soaring commodity prices.

Outlook For anyone wondering why BP has been prepared to put up with so much grief as it strives to increase its presence in Russia, yesterday's ill-tempered Opec meeting provides an answer. In a world where Opec is incapable of agreeing a common goal, let alone exerting the control it once did over global oil production, Russia becomes even more powerful than its status as the world's largest oil producer might already suggest.

Oil prices have surged after cartel Opec failed to back an increase in supplies which could have given some respite to UK motorists squeezed by high forecourt costs.