Crude oil prices dropped $6 to below $88 a barrel today as worsening financial turmoil triggered fears about slowing demand for energy.
Prices have slumped almost 40% in three months since they struck record highs of above $147 in July.
US crude traded down $6.00 to $87.80 a barrel this evening after hitting a fresh eight-month low of $87.56. London Brent crude fell $6.45 to $83.80 a barrel.
Since striking their record highs, oil prices have fallen sharply on concerns that demand is slowing during the global financial crisis.
The oil market was also following developments in Nigeria, a major exporter of crude.
Militants behind a recent 'oil war' in the country's Delta region freed on Sunday 19 local hostages but said they were detaining two Britons and a Ukrainian 'for security reasons'.
The rebels belong to the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which since its emergence in early 2006 has multiplied attacks, kidnappings of foreign oil workers and sabotage at oil installations on land and offshore.
It has caused Nigeria to lose one quarter of its oil production, recently ceding its place as the biggest crude oil producer in Africa to Angola.
