Oil Price Drops Sharply as Global Agency Sees Demand Easing
The price of crude oil dropped sharply on Tuesday after a prominent energy group lowered its estimate for worldwide oil demand, saying high prices were harming consumption. Oil fell $3.45, or 3.7 percent, to $91.17 a barrel in New York. Last week, oil futures reached a high of $98.62 a barrel. Oil prices, which have more than quadrupled over the last four years, are close to the inflation-adjusted record of $101.70 a barrel reached in April 1980. With an editorial titled “$100, a turning point?,” the International Energy Agency suggested in its monthly report on Tuesday that high prices were changing energy use in the developing world and in developed countries. Full Story