Oil prices slow

11 April 2008

Oil prices have dropped from the record highs reached earlier this week.

In news which is likely to affect home heating oil users, oil prices settled at $109.49 (€69.17) - a drop of 62 cents from yesterday's values of $110.11 a barrel, Bloomberg reports.

During midweek trading oil prices surged past the previous record high of $111.80 to reach $112.21.

Head of research at Commodity Warrants Australia Rowan Menzies stated that demand is falling.

"There is a disconnect between the price of oil right now and what the data is telling us in terms of demand slowing down," he said.

He warned that demand is "deteriorating all the time".

The US Energy Department has warned that petrol usage in the country may drop for the first time in 17 years.

At the beginning of the week, Jonathan Barratt, managing director of Commodity Broking Services in Sydney, told Bloomberg that he expected oil prices to rise.

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