|
WORLD oil prices weakened in Asian trade on Wednesday on renewed worries about energy demand in the face of slowing global growth, dealers said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery, fell US$2.72 (S$4.07) to US$69.46 a barrel from its close of US$72.18 in the United States on Tuesday.
The contract for November expired on Tuesday, closing US$3.36 lower at US$70.89.
Brent North Sea crude for December delivery dropped US$2.42 to US$67.30. It closed US$2.31 weaker on Tuesday at US$69.72.
Crude prices have rallied in recent sessions amid growing signals Opec is likely to announce plans to cut its production when the oil cartel meets at a specially arranged session in Vienna on Friday.
However, worries about weaker energy consumption as the world's developed economies hit a weak patch have investors fretting, dealers said.
'Concerns over weakening oil demand have dampened the oil price, even though the Opec meeting on 24 October is expected to lower production targets,' said Mr David Moore, a Sydney-based commodity strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Ahead of the Opec meeting, key members of the oil cartel have already voiced their support for production levels to be cut to shore up falling prices.
Iran's oil minister said on Tuesday that Teheran believes Opec should cut production by between two million and 2.5 million barrels a day, and that prices could go higher than US$150 a barrel.
'The market should find a stable condition, and given the eight to 10 per cent decrease in demand, and also given the oil stockpile, I think a decrease of between two and 2.5 million barrels a day can bring a stable status to the market,' Mr Gholam Hossein Nozari said at a press conference in Teheran.
Iran is the second largest exporter in Opec and its economy is heavily dependent on oil and gas income.
Qatar's Energy Minister Abdallah bin Hamad al-Attiyah said on Tuesday that the 'best price' for oil was US$80 to US$90 a barrel while Libya said on Monday it backed an output cut of more than one million barrels a day.
The 12 members of Opec together pump about 40 per cent of the world's crude.
Crude futures have halved in value from record highs above US$147 in July.
Crude prices slumped below US$70 last week for the first time in more than a year, dragged by prospects of reduced demand in the face of a global economic slowdown stemming from the ongoing world financial crisis. -- AFP
| 
