Oil slipped to a new 22-month low of $56 a barrel yesterday, as Opec said it would hold an emergency meeting in Cairo to discuss cutting supplies again.

The price of a barrel of US crude dropped to a low of $54.67 - the weakest level since the end of January 2007. London Brent crude dropped $1.12 to $51.25.

Opec, the cartel of 13 nations that produces 40 per cent of the world's oil, said that it would meet at the end of this month to discuss a slide of more than 60 per cent in oil prices since July 11, when they touched an historic high of $147 per barrel.

Chakib Khelil, the Opec president, said that the meeting would be held alongside a previously scheduled meeting of Arab oil exporters that would be expanded to include other members such as Venezuela, Nigeria and Ecuador.

John Hall, an independent energy analyst, said that he expected Opec to consider a cut of about a million barrels per day in an attempt to put a floor under recent price falls. However, he doubted that such a move would be effective, given the rapid slide in global demand for oil.

Only last month, Opec announced a cut of 1.5 million barrels per day in production, which has failed so far to trigger a recovery in prices.

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