OPEC oil output dropped less than 1 percent in December, the first month after the group refused to cut production in response to a rout in oil prices, a Bloomberg survey showed. Output by the 12-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries slipped 122,000 barrels a day, or 0.4 percent, to 30.239 million, led by declines in Saudi Arabia, Libya and the United Arab Emirates, according to the survey of oil companies, producers and analysts. Brent and West Texas Intermediate futures dropped to the lowest levels since May 2009 today, capping the worst year since 2008. OPEC left its production quotas unchanged at a Nov. 27 meeting in Vienna, prompting speculation that the group will let crude slide low enough to slow U.S. production that’s climbed to the highest level in three decades . “Ultimately the big producers will make significant cuts to support prices,” Dan Heckman, Kansas City, Missouri-based […]