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Oil prices remain low on world markets

04 December 2008 09:07 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Vahab Rzayev - APA-Economics. Crude oil fell for a fifth day to the lowest in almost four years after a report showed U.S. fuel demand extended declines because of the countryâ€™s longest economic contraction since World War II, reports Bloomberg.
Crude oil for January delivery today dropped as much as $1.49, or 3.2 percent, to $45.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Thatâ€™s the lowest since Feb. 9, 2005. It was at $45.67 a barrel at 12:57 p.m. Singapore time.
Futures have tumbled 69 percent after reaching a record $147.27 on July 11. Yesterday, crude fell 17 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $46.79, the lowest settlement since Feb. 9, 2005.
he four-week average of petroleum products supplied in the U.S. was 19.3 million barrels a day, down from 20.9 million barrels a day a year ago, the Energy Department report showed. The U.S. first entered a recession in December 2007, the National Bureau of Economic Research, a private, non-profit panel of economists that dates American business cycles, said on Dec. 1.
Brent crude oil for January settlement fell as much as $1.64, or 3.6 percent, to $43.80 a barrel on Londonâ€™s ICE Futures Europe exchange, and traded at $44.04 at 12:57 p.m. Singapore time. The contract settled unchanged at $45.44 a barrel yesterday.
Oil prices have dropped as the U.S., Japan and Europe are all in recession for the first time since World War II.