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LONDON : Oil prices sank close to one-year low points on Wednesday as plunging stock markets generated fresh fears of slowing economic growth and in turn weaker global demand for energy, traders said.
London's Brent North Sea crude for delivery in November fell to as low as 81.00 dollars per barrel in electronic trade -- a point last reached on October 15, 2007.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for November, tumbled to 86.05 dollars a barrel, also a 12-month trough.
Brent oil later stood at 81.99 dollars, down 2.67 dollars from Tuesday's closing level. New York crude was down 2.95 dollars at 87.11 dollars per barrel.
Prices had risen Tuesday as markets speculated about a possible reduction in crude oil production by OPEC and a coordinated global round of interest rate cuts to combat the ongoing worldwide banking crisis.
"Brent is already trading below the range of the fourth quarter of 2007 and is approaching a key support line at 80 dollars per barrel," said Petromatrix analyst Olivier Jakob.
"Some of the same banks that are currently under distress are key commodity investors," he added.
Traders were meanwhile awaiting the latest snapshot on the state of American crude oil inventories for the week ending October 3. The United States is the world's biggest energy consuming nation.
- AFP /ls
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