Gordon Brown said today it was “absolutely scandalous” that oil producing countries were considering cutting production next week.

The calling of an emergency meeting next week of the Opec crude producers’ cartel has sparked speculation that output will be cut to raise oil prices, which tumbled to a 17-month low yesterday.

“I think it is absolutely scandalous that Opec is thinking of meeting in the next few days to cut oil production so they can push up the price of oil again and we will certainly try and prevent this happening,” the Prime Minister told business leaders in Nottingham.

“I think the oil price rose because long-term demand for oil looked like it would exceed the supply of oil and people thought, looking ahead, that there was no way other than the price going up."

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries announced yesterday that it was bringing forward to next Friday an emergency meeting originally scheduled for November 18.

Last week Mr Brown appealed to OPEC leaders not to cut output, urging them to be“statesmanlike” and warning that it would be“wrong for the world economy ... for Opec to cut production and therefore keep prices high".

The benchmark oil price rebounded to 71.01 dollars today on speculation that Opec would agree to cut production. Fears of a global recession, which would reduce demand for energy, had pushed crude futures down by more than six per cent over the week.

Mr Brown's intervention appeared to reflect a more combative approach from the Prime Minister, who was emboldened by the worldwide adoption of his model to rescue the financial system through the recapitalisation of banks. Yesterday, he accused petrol retailers of charging too much and demanded that they follow the lead of Asda and Morrisons and bring prices down below £1 a litre.

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