SINGAPORE: World oil traded above 36 dollars on Friday, at its lowest levels in more than four years, after OPEC's announcement of a record production cut failed to rally prices.

New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in January, traded at 36.36 dollars a barrel in afternoon trade, off its morning low of 36.00.

On Thursday the contract dived 3.84 dollars to 36.22 dollars, its weakest finish since July 2004, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent North Sea crude for February delivery gained 52 cents to 43.88 dollars a barrel in the afternoon after slumping 2.17 dollars to settle at 43.36 dollars a barrel on Thursday in London.

A slowing global economy and resulting fears of weaker energy demand have pulled prices down from record highs of 147 dollars a barrel reached in July.

In a bid to shore up prices, ministers of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Wednesday approved a record output cut of 2.2-million barrels a day, about 7.0 percent of the cartel's output quota.

Before the latest cuts, OPEC's official daily output target was 27.3 million barrels a day.