Oil sagged for a fourth day in a row today as high US inventories and weak economic data from China and Japan reinforced fears of a deeper global downturn.
US benchmark oil for October delivery was down 51 cents to $91.47 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract finished at $91.98 last night, dropping $3.31, or 3.5%.
Brent crude traded on the ICE Futures exchange in London fell 54 cents to $107.65 a barrel.
The release of weak Japanese trade data today and figures showing that China's manufacturing was still contracting weighed on sentiment. Signs that the global economy is slowing down tend to push oil prices lower because people and businesses use less energy.
Japan's exports in August totaled 5.05 trillion yen ($64.33 billion), down 5.8% from a year earlier. Imports were also down.
And in China, a preliminary survey by HSBC of Chinese manufacturing activity showed a contraction for September, although at a slower rate than August. Separately, crude inventories rose three times more than analysts had expected last week.
Crude supplies grew by 8.5 million barrels to 367.6 million barrels. That is 8.4% higher than at the same time last year, according to the Energy Information Administration's weekly report.
Analysts said the uptick in inventory was tied to the return of production by US Gulf Coast refineries after being shut down by Hurricane Isaac.
