Oil prices slumped to below $100 a barrel today ahead of the start of today's Opec meeting in Vienna, putting more pressure on the oil producers' cartel to cut supply to the markets.

The fall to $99.56 a barrel takes the price of crude to a five-month low and below the pyschologically significant $100 a barrel level, which was last seen in April.

Oil prices have now been falling for two weeks consistently, despite a short-lived rally yesterday on the back of concerns over the impact of Hurricane Ike in the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico.

However, the surging dollar, propelled by the US Government's bailout of mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, countered the rise in oil.

The dollar is now at its highest level against the euro since October 2007, prompting investors to dump commodites from corn to copper and move into the currency.

Brent North Sea crude for delivery in October fell by $3.88 to $99.56 today while New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, shed $3.02 to $103.14 a barrel. Oil is now trading at over 30 per cent below the record $147.27 reached on July 11.

The heaviest hint that Opec would leave production levels unchanged came from Ali al-Naimi, the Saudi Arabian oil minister, who said that oil markets were “fairly well balanced” and inventories were healthy.

Saudi-owned newspaper al-Hayat also quoted a senior Opec source, saying that cutting oil output ahead of the approach of peak winter demand would be “unjustified”.

Chakib Khelil, the Opec president, also said on his arrival in Vienna that " there is plenty of oil in the market". He also predicted that within six months supply will outpace demand by 1 million barrels per day.

Opec members, including Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, have called for no change in output levels though Algeria, Iran, Venezuela and Libya have suggested a cut is needed, claiming the market is oversupplied.

Opec is currently thought to be producing about 790,000 barrels per day (bpd) more than its official ceiling of 29.67 million bpd.

In May and June Saudi Arabia agreed to increase production by 500,000 bpd to help calm markets.

Opec produces about 40 per cent of world crude.

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