Oct 10, 2008

World - Oil hits 12-month low,below $84

TOKYO: Oil prices fell to a new 12-month low below $84 on Friday, as a continued market slide stirred demand concerns and outweighed calls by some OP
EC members to cut output to prop up prices.

The producer group announced on Thursday that it would hold an emergency meeting in Vienna on November 18 to discuss the impact on oil markets of the financial crisis, which has helped knock prices from a record peak above $147 a barrel in July.

Crude for November delivery was down $2.66, or 3 per cent, at $83.93 a barrel by 0040 GMT, after settling down $2.36 at $86.59 a barrel on Thursday.

Japan's Nikkei average slid more than 11 per cent and Seoul shares fell 9 per cent on Friday, after US stocks plummeted on fears about a global recession.

Further pressure on energy prices has come as investors, who earlier this year piled into oil and other commodities as a hedge against inflation and the weak dollar, sought to put cash into safer havens.

US gold futures jumped more than 4 percent to $925 per ounce in electronic trading on Friday.

The slumping economy has prompted analysts to revise downwards their global oil demand growth targets for next year, with the Energy Information Administration this week dropping its 2009 projection by 140,000 barrels per day.

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