By Moming Zhou & Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures tumbled Friday, at one point falling 7.4% to their lowest level in 17 months as a production cut by OPEC failed to ease concerns that the global economic slowdown is dampening demand. Crude' losses came amid broad declines in commodities and stock markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped more than 300 points, while gold futures are heading for their worse week since at least 1980. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said Friday at a meeting in Vienna that it was slashing 1.5 million barrels of oil a day in production as the world's financial crisis dampened demand for energy. Crude for December delivery lost $4.14, or 6.1%, to $63.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It dropped to $62.65 earlier, the lowest since May, 2007. Crude has lost more than $80, or 57%, from its record high above $147 a barrel hit in July. "Oil prices have witnessed a dramatic collapse -- unprecedented in speed and magnitude -- these falling to levels which may put at jeopardy many existing oil projects and lead to the cancellation or delay of others, possibly resulting in a medium-term supply shortage," OPEC said in its statement. "This slowdown in oil demand is serving to exacerbate the situation in a market which has been over-supplied with crude for some time," it added. "Forecasts indicate that the fall in demand will deepen, despite the approach of winter in the northern hemisphere." OPEC said earlier this month that global oil consumption will grow 550,000 barrels a day this year compared with a year ago, down 330,000 barrels from last month's forecast. Total consumption will stand at 86.5 million barrels a day, said the cartel, which controls nearly 40% of the world's oil production. OPEC cut The cartel said at Friday's meeting that it was going to cut its production ceiling of 28.8 million barrels a day by 1.5 million barrels, effective Nov. 1. The cartel's 13 members, however, often produce more than their quotas. Total OPEC production stood at 32 million barrels a day in September, according to its own monthly report. Analysts had been expecting a cut between 1 million and 1.5 million barrels a day, though a few observers said the cuts could reach as high as 2 million. The White House denounced OPEC production cut as an "anti-market" decision. "It has always been our view that the value of commodities, including oil, should be determined in open, competitive markets, and not by these kinds of anti-market production decisions," said spokesman Tony Fratto. OPEC said that the biggest producer, Saudi Arabia, is cutting 466,000 barrels a day, with six-figure declines also coming from Iran, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. Mike Wittner, an analyst for Societe Generale in London, said the fact that OPEC gave specific cuts by country -- it doesn't always do so -- lends some credibility to its call for production cuts. That little dissension was seen also was constructive from OPEC's perspective, he said. OPEC said it's going to meet again on Dec. 17, in Oran, Algeria. But it didn't give a specific commitment to cut production further. Gasoline falls In other energy trading, November heating oil fell 5.8% to $1.9112 a gallon. November natural-gas futures lost 2.5% to $6.26 per million British thermal units. November reformulated gasoline fell 6.5% to $1.475 a gallon. Based on a survey of gasoline retailers, prices for regular gasoline at the pump fell more than 4 cents a gallon from Thursday, hitting a national average of $2.781, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report. Gas prices were now lower than a year ago.

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