Ministers from Opec oil producing countries have met in Vienna and decided to cut production across the bloc by 1.5 million barrels a day effective Nov. 1, 2008, as desert kingdoms feel the pinch of a credit-crunch-induced fall in commodity prices.

The cartel had been under political pressure to increase flows by none other than U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Others, like Iran, hoped for a production cut of 2 MM bpd.

Poor nations dependant on oil alone for economic growth had sought a cut, while poor nations without oil had hoped for spike and the resulting reprieve from living costs.

Brown had hoped a production spike would boost the effect of fiscal and monetary measures in Asia, Europe and North America aimed at a global financial crisis still making headlines.