Oil prices see slight fall below $81

22/10/2009

Oil prices were trading at less than $81 per barrel this Thursday (October 22nd), a slight fall on the record 2009 levels that had previously been seen.

Benchmark US crude oil for December delivery fell to $80.88 by midday Singapore time on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a fall of 49 cents, reports the Associated Press.

The newswire reports that the contract settled at $81.37 on Wednesday, following a $2.25 increase as the dollar fell to its lowest since August 2008.

David Cohen, director of Asian economic forecasting for consultancy Action Economics, said: "The recovery is not so fragile that it can't tolerate another dollar or two in the oil price."

He added that a drag on the markets could be witnessed if concerns about the potential for inflation start to grow.

David Moore, commodities strategist at Commonwealth Bank in Sydney, suggested earlier this week that he expected oil prices to see a slight decrease from the year high levels.