Oil prices slip to US$84.34

NEW YORK - OIL prices slipped on Monday for the fourth consecutive session on Monday in New York, under pressure from mediocre demand in the United States, the world's largest energy consumer.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, fell 58 US cents to US$84.34 (S$113) a barrel after rallying above US$85 earlier in the day. London's Brent North Sea crude for May dipped six US cents to US$84.77 a barrel.

The New York oil market had a 'fairly quiet' session as prices drifted higher and lower, said Antoine Halff of Newedge Group. 'Perhaps one is seeing merely a correction from the gains of the past two weeks,' he said.

'Demand remains weak, the petroleum product inventories is growing - the fundamentals, which had begun to firm up slightly in the beginning of the year seem to be deteriorating once again,' he said.

Oil futures continued their retreat from a peak reached last Tuesday above US$87 for the first time since Oct 2008.

The US government's weekly oil stockpiles report last Wednesday showed an increase in crude oil reserves for the 10th week in a row. 'The sentiment pendulum has shifted temporarily back towards skepticism that demand has not sufficiently recovered to support current prices,' said Mike Fitzpatrick at MF Global. 'Last week's inventory reports can, at best, only be read as indicating the energy market remains fragile.' -- AFP