SINGAPORE : Oil prices continued southward journey Thursday and recorded below $73 a barrel in Asian trade mainly on lower demand.
U.S. crude for November delivery fell $1.56, or about 2 percent, to $72.98 a barrel in early trading in Singapore. Brent North Sea crude for November delivery eased $1.30 to 69.50.
The front-month contract has lost nearly a third in value in three weeks, the steepest such decline since it began trading in 1983 and down about 50% from July's record highs.
It slid $4.09 at the close of floor trading yesterday at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent settled down $3.73 yesterday in London, and dropped below $70 for the first time since June 2007 in electronic trading after the market closed.