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NEW YORK: Oil prices slumped on Monday amid a rising US dollar and concerns over energy demand as traders eyed the OPEC cartel's output meeting this week.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for April delivery, slid 1.44 dollars to 79.80 dollars a barrel.
London's Brent North Sea crude for April plunged 1.50 dollars to 77.89 dollars per barrel.
After failing to break the 83-dollar mark last week, the New York contract came under heavy selling with prices expected to go down even further, some analysts said.
"The 80 (dollar) level was significant, so it's possible that we'll see that continue downward for a few days," said Adam Sieminski, chief energy economist at Deutsche Bank.
"We believe prices are headed lower because we think the dollar will strengthen, we believe the stock market will go more neutral, and the underlying fundamentals are still relatively weak," he said.
The dollar bounced higher against the euro on Monday as traders eagerly awaited a crunch meeting of eurozone finance ministers that was expected to address the Greek debt crisis, analysts said.
The US unit also gained ground on the back of its safe-haven status, as weaker global equities prompted some investors to sell the riskier euro.
A stronger greenback tends to sap demand for dollar-priced crude because it becomes more expensive for buyers using weaker currencies.
Oil was also dampened on Monday by the latest economic data from the United States, the world's biggest energy-consuming nation.
US industrial production inched up 0.1 percent in February, grinding to a near-halt amid severe snow storms that crippled large parts of the East Coast, Federal Reserve data showed Monday.
"Crude oil prices fell... due to a strengthening US dollar, while investors remain cautious ahead of a busy week in economic figures and the OPEC meeting in Vienna," added Sucden analyst Myrto Sokou in London.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries was widely expected to keep its official output quota at 24.84 million barrels a day at its meeting on Wednesday.
OPEC's second-largest producer Iran said on Monday that the cartel should not raise production as there was no sign of an increase in world demand.
The cartel's 12 member nations together pump around 40 percent of the world's crude oil supplies.
Elsewhere on Monday, two car bombs rocked the southern Nigerian oil city of Warri during talks on an amnesty for former rebel fighters, a government official said.
"Crude oil prices might get some support from the two explosions... during amnesty discussions in the area of Nigeria's oil delta," added Sucden analyst Soukou.
Nigeria's main armed group MEND had called off a three-month unilateral truce in January. - AFP/de
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