Guardian: The once-feared Opec was further humbled today when the price of crude fell to its lowest level in four and a half years despite the cartel’s decision to slash production by record levels. The price of a barrel of oil fell to $39.19 compared with a high of $147 in the summer, leaving Opec struggling to decide whether it will make deeper cuts or accept defeat. The organisation has announced two output reductions since September, amounting to 4.2m barrels a day, to try to counter …