The price of crude oil on the US markets fell below the 100 mark dollars on Tuesday, as the meeting of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries oil ministers are scheduled to meet on Wednesday in Austria, raising hopes that the OPEC production could be increased.

Chakib Khelil, the OPEC president, said that the organization is trying to keep away from boosting production due to the fact that the global demand for crude oil is expected to lower during the second quarter. However, analysts believe that the production cutting decision is politically unlikely to be taken during the current economic conditions, as it would cause a rapid and abrupt rise in oil prices due to the decrease of the supply.

"How can you cut production when prices are so high?" Libyan Oil Minister Shokri Ghanem said recently, The Wall Street Journal reported.

During the meeting on Wednesday, OPEC ministers will have to take into consideration that the surging oil prices are having a big role into pushing the United States into a recession, which would also mean a further demand for crude.

Oil futures for the April delivery dropped under 100 dollars for the first time this week, reaching 99.73 dollars, 2.72 dollars lower, after falling as low as 33.30 dollars earlier the same day.

The oil prices were also pushed up by forecasts that domestic crude inventories jumped by 2.3 million barrels during the last week, a survey by Dow Jones Newswires has shown. Weather this is a fact or not, it will be revealed on Wednesday as well, through the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration’s weekly inventory report.