Oil prices fell further in Asia today, almost touching levels unseen since early 2005, in a market worried over falling consumption, analysts said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, dropped 53 cents to $48.75 on top of $5.15 fall to $49.28 at the close of trading yesterday at the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent North Sea crude for January fell 39 cents to $47.58. The contract plunged $5.52 to settle at $47.97 yesterday in London.
"I think it's the same-old same-old: consumption softening," said David Moore, a commodities strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.
"The data out of the US and other countries support the view that consumption has softened."
Prices have fallen heavily from record highs above $147 reached in July on worries over slowing economic growth and its impact on demand for energy, analysts said.
A panel of economists charged with the official designation of business cycles yesterday said that a US recession began one year ago, but Moore said the finding was no surprise.
The Eurozone, Japan and other economies are already in recession.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided at a weekend meeting against cutting production.
OPEC is scheduled to gather again in Algeria on December 17. The cartel's secretary general, Abdalla Salem El-Badri, yesterday said the group would decide on a major output cut if the oil market is deemed to be deteriorating.
