Oil Prices Continue To Slide, Could Test $50 Soon

New York, NY, Nov. 13, 2008--Oil prices fell to near $55 a barrel Thursday in Asia as more bad economic news from the U.S. heightened fears of a severe global downturn.

Light, sweet crude for December delivery was down $1.08 to $55.08 a barrel, after falling to as low as $54.67, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midafternoon in Singapore.

"As the global economy continues to weaken, we're going to see further downward pressure on oil," said Stephen Roach, chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, in Singapore. "I think we'll certainly challenge the $50 threshold. We could challenge the $40 threshold."

The crude futures contract overnight fell $3.50 to settle at $56.16, the lowest closing price since January 2007, after the U.S. Energy Department slashed its 2009 oil consumption forecast.

The department said Wednesday it expects U.S. consumption of petroleum to next year drop more severely than any time since 1980. The department's Energy Information Administration said 2009 petroleum consumption is projected to sink by 250,000 barrels per day, or 1.3 percent, more than twice that projected in its previous outlook.