/ 30 December 2008

Oil falls below $40 on grim economic outlook

Oil fell below $40 a barrel on Tuesday, pressured by gloom about prospects for world economic growth that outweighed heightened tensions in the Middle East due to the Israeli-Hamas conflict.

Prices had jumped as much as 12% on Monday after Israel launched its fiercest air offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza strip in decades.

United States crude was down 77 cents at $39,25 a barrel by 11.51am GMT, having earlier touched a session high of $40,39.

London Brent fell 60 cents to $39,95.

”With most global economies struggling and credit markets still in an impaired state, it is hard to get too excited about the upside potential in energy markets attributable solely to geopolitical factors unless, of course, these are directed at the heart of the oil supply system,” said Edward Meir of futures broker MF Global.

Oil is heading for a loss of nearly 60% this year, its biggest annual fall since futures began trading 25 years ago. It has dropped more than $100 from a record peak above $147 a barrel in July.

”People are still wary of the global economic problems. There is still pessimistic news coming out of the United States,” said Gerard Rigby, an analyst at Fuel First Consulting in Sydney.

He said he would also be watching the dollar and stock markets moves.

The dollar slipped against the euro and a basket of currencies, depressed partly by the Israeli offensive, which has helped to dampen dollar sentiment.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) has agreed its biggest-ever production cut of 2,2-million barrels per day (bpd) to fight the oil-market slide.

The group has cut output three times in an effort to remove about 5% of world supply. — Reuters