LONDON, Aug 26: World oil prices fell strongly on Thursday for the second day running as worries over supply disruptions eased with traders claiming overnight pipeline attacks in major producer Iraq were unlikely to affect the country's crude exports.

The price of benchmark Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in October fell 41 cents to $40.27 per barrel in late afternoon deals, having plunged to $39.67 earlier in the day, the lowest level for almost one month.

The contract had meanwhile shed $1.64 by the close of trading on Wednesday. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery, lost 37 cents to $43.10 per barrel in early trading, having fallen to as low as $42.50.

The contract had plunged $1.74 on Wednesday. Dictating price movement on Thursday was mainly events in Iraq, where eight pipelines feeding two southern oilfields were sabotaged in an overnight explosion, officials said.

"Eight pipelines were hit, but so far there is little detail to say if this is affecting loadings at the pumping station," GNI-Man Financial trader Kevin Blemkin said. But a source at the South Oil Company said exports would be affected, without elaborating.

Prices began plunging on Wednesday as a modest improvement in the supply outlook, helped in part by a resumption to Iraqi exports, encouraged speculators to bank their profits, analysts said.

The New York contract remains far below last Friday's all-time high of $49.40 per barrel. With prices heading downwards, "Opec and the International Energy Agency are both trying to talk the market down", GNI-Man Financial trader Blemkin said on Thursday.

Opec president Purnomo Yusgiantoro, speaking to reporters on Thursday, said the cartel hoped oil prices could come down to $30 per barrel. But he noted that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries must take stock of its spare oil capacity before any decision on a possible increase in production quotas could be made at the cartel's meeting in Vienna next month. -AFP