Oil prices down as US economic growth expected to weaken  

(MENAFN - Kuwait News Agency (KUNA))  Oil prices slipped to below USD 67 per barrel (pb) in New York on speculation that the economic growth in the United States, the world's largest energy consumer, will weaken, reducing energy demand.

Oil prices Tuesday evening declined to their lowest level in five weeks after the US Commerce Department said the country's economy expanded at a 2.8 percent on an annual rate in the third quarter of 2009, 3.5 percent lower than expected.

The Energy Department to be issued on Wednesday is expected to show a 1.5 million barrel increase in crude supplies last week.

Contracts of crude oil for January delivery were at USD 75.91 pb, down 11 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
On Tuesday, the contract declined USD 1.54, or two percent, to USD 76.02 pb which is the lowest level since October 14.

Prices are still 70 percent more what they were at the beginning of 2009.
Meanwhile, a report issued on Tuesday by the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed that US oil stockpiles hiked 3.35 million barrels to 336.4 million last week, gasoline supplies increased 1.71 million barrels to 212.1 million, while distillates dropped 2.36 million to 166.9 million.

Nigeria's Petroleum Minister Rilwanu Lukman said Tuesday that oil stockpiles around the world were too high and that countries should be careful about the amount of supply.

Nigeria was the eighth largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in October.
OPEC will hold a meeting on December 22 in Angola to discuss production quantity.

The organization agreed during its meeting in Vienna on September 9 to maintain production quotas at 24.845 million barrels a day.
In the meantime, the Standard and Poor's 500 Index in the United States declined 0.1 percent in New York on Tuesday, whole Dow Jones Industrial Average index decreased 0.2 percent.

Tha Japanese Finance Ministry announced Wednesday that Japan, the world's third biggest oil consumer, imported 16.21 million kiloliters, or 3.29 million barrels, a day of crude last October, 18.4 percent less than 2008.
The Asian country's imports of natural gas and coal dropped as the use of fuel by energy companies decreased as response to the decline of demand on electricity.

On Wednesday, oil market transactions are expected to be light due to the US Thanksgiving holiday.
There will be no floor trading on Thursday and the market will close early on Friday.

Meanwhile, Brent crude oil for January delivery hiked 3 cents to USD 76.69 pb.

On Tuesday, it dropped USD 1, or 1.3 percent, and reached USD 76.46 pb.