The calling of an emergency meeting next week of the OPEC crude producers' cartel has sparked speculation that output will be cut output to raise oil prices, which tumbled to a 17-month low on Thursday.

'I think it is absolutely scandalous that OPEC is thinking of meeting in the next few days to cut oil production so they can push up the price of oil again and we will certainly try and prevent this happening,' Mr Brown told a meeting of business leaders.

'I think the oil price rose because long-term demand for oil looked like it would exceed the supply of oil and people thought, looking ahead, that there was no way other than the price going up.'

Mr Brown made the comments at a meeting in Nottingham, central England, after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) said on Thursday it was bringing forward to next Friday an emergency meeting originally scheduled for Nov 18.

Last week Mr Brown appealed to OPEC leaders not to cut output, urging them to be 'statesmanlike' and warning it would be 'wrong for the world economy ... for OPEC to cut production and therefore keep prices high.'

The benchmark oil price rebounded to US$71.01 (S$105.24) on Friday on output cut speculation, after crude futures had dropped by more than six percent over the week as fears of a global recession raised expectations of a prolonged slowdown to energy demand. -- AFP