New York oil price falls briefly below US$90

The benchmark New York oil futures contract briefly fell below 90 dollars a barrel on Monday in Asia after Wall Street's financial meltdown extended to Europe, triggering fears of a global slowdown. In late afternoon, New York's main contract, light sweet crude for November delivery, hit a low of 89.96 dollars before rebounding to trade 3.43 dollars lower at 90.45. London's Brent North Sea crude for delivery in November had already dropped below the 90-dollar mark, on September 16. The Brent contract traded 3.70 dollars lower at 86.55 in late Asian trade on Monday.

World oil prices first broke through the 100-dollar level at the start of the year and touched record highs above 147 dollars in July. But they have fallen sharply since then on concerns that demand is slowing during the global financial crisis.

If there is a severe downturn in the international economy, oil prices could prove weaker than forecast, but why the action of cutting the pump price slower than the increase? When oil prices up by a few dollars, pump price was also up by a few cents, but when oil prices fall by ten twenty over dollars, the pump price only cut by a few cents too...