Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah yesterday issued a strong appeal to oil producers to take further measures to rescue collapsed oil prices.

"We must not stand idle while watching the main source of our revenues subjected to this big shake-up as a result of the imbalance that happened to the supply and demand in the oil market," he told a summit of Gulf Arab leaders in Abu Dhabi.

His plea comes at a critical time for the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which is facing the lowest oil prices since 1976 on an annual average basis.