Oil fell by 4.5% today after the International Energy Agency (IEA) cut its forecast for world oil demand growth, saying that the recent surge in oil prices had already hurt consumption.
US light crude for December delivery shed $4.20 to $90.42 a barrel this evening, while London Brent crude fell $3.88 to $88.10.
The IEA sharply reduced its forecast for oil demand growth through the rest of 2007 and into 2008, saying oil's march towards $100 was already slowing consumption.
The IEA, which already revised downward its forecasts in October, cut its prediction for fourth quarter demand growth by 570,000 barrels per day (bpd) and by 180,000 bpd in the first quarter of 2008.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said there would be no OPEC output policy decision at the group's Riyadh summit. The OPEC summit in Riyadh brings together heads of state for the first time since 2000, when oil was at $30 a barrel. OPEC's next policy meeting is on December 5 in Abu Dhabi.
Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil said yesterday that the event will call on consuming nations to play their part in bringing down record oil prices that are increasingly influenced by financial markets.
US oil has fallen about $4 from its record of $98.62 a barrel last Wednesday, weighed down by profit-taking on concerns of a slowing US economy and signs that OPEC may finally take action to stem a more than one-third rise since mid-August.
Traders will focus on the weekly US crude inventory data, which will be released a day later than normal on Thursday because of the Veterans Day holiday on Monday.
A preliminary Reuters poll shows analysts expect a one million-barrel drawdown on crude stocks, a 700,000-barrel decline in distillate inventories and a 400,000-barrel drop in petrol supplies.
