Economic Worries Send Oil Prices Lower

New York, NY, July 6, 2009--Oil prices fell to near $65 a barrel Monday in Asia as unemployment figures from the U.S. and Europe last week sparked investor concern about a nascent economic recovery.

Benchmark crude for August delivery fell $1.63 to $65.10 a barrel by midday Singapore time, after earlier dropping as low as $64.65, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It last settled on Thursday at $66.73.

Trading was closed in the U.S. on Friday for the Independence Day holiday.

Oil has tumbled from an eight-month high above $73 a barrel last week after gloomy U.S. consumer confidence and jobs numbers fueled doubts about a rally that has doubled the price of crude since March.

A Labor Department report last week showed the U.S. economy lost a larger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June.

Another attack on oil operations in Nigeria helped bolster prices. Militants said on Sunday they attacked a Royal Dutch Shell oil facility in southern Nigeria, the latest sabotage in a campaign that has undermined output from Africa's largest producer.