Bourse

Home page

Bourse

Oil settles at seven-month low

16 September 2008 09:53 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Vugar Mustafayev - APA-Economics. Light, sweet crude for October delivery fell $US5.47, or 5.4 per cent, to $US95.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest close in seven month, or since February 15.
October Brent crude on the ICE Futures Europe exchange, which expired yesterday, fell $US5.20 to $US92.38 a barrel. More actively traded November Brent was down by $US5.14 at $US94.24.
Nymex crude sank as low as $US94.13 in early trading after Lehman Brothersâ€™ bankruptcy filing and Merrill Lynchâ€™s agreement to sell itself to Bank of America sent fears of an economic slowdown into the oil market.
Crude has fallen just shy of $US50 a barrel from its July settlement record of $US145.29.
The collapse of Lehman Brothers and Bank of Americaâ€™s agreement to buy investment banking giant Merrill Lynch stirred concerns that mounting global economic problems will slow energy demand further.
Buyers of crude failed to find traction as tensions simmered in key oil-producing regions.
Iranâ€™s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency said the country would continue enriching uranium in defiance of United Nations Security Council demands, the ISNA news agency reported.
Oil also continued to falll despite reports that militants had launched another attack on Nigeriaâ€™s oil infrastructure in a third day of violence.