Oil price hits five-year low

The price of oil hit its lowest point in more than five years Monday, days after the world’s largest oil cartel declined to cut production.

The West Texas Intermediate crude oil benchmark hit $65.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange just after 7 a.m. Monday, Bloomberg News reported.

{mosads}It is the lowest price for oil since July 2009.

Meanwhile Brent crude, another benchmark, hit as low as $67.53, its lowest since October 2009.

The price drops followed a Nov. 27 decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) not to seek to prop up international oil prices by cutting production. OPEC decided to trust that the market would bring prices up by itself.

That led to international price plummets. Bloomberg called November the largest monthly oil price drop in about six years.

Also contributing to the price decreases is China, whose factory index for November, a major economic indicator for the country, fell below economists’ expectations. It was 50.3, very close to the 50 mark that is the line between economic expansion and contraction.

Auto group AAA said the national average gasoline price Monday was $2.769 a gallon.

Recent price declines caused gasoline prices around Thanksgiving to be at their lowest point since 2009.