LONDON, July 18: World oil prices fell on Monday on receding concerns for Gulf of Mexico platforms and refineries as Hurricane Emily looked set to steer clear of US oil installations, dealers said. Meanwhile, the Opec lowered its demand growth forecast for 2005, saying that the global economy seemed to be slowing down.

New York’s main contract on Monday, light sweet crude for delivery in August, dipped 89 cents to $57.20 per barrel in early dealing.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in September decreased 76 cents to $56.85 per barrel.

Oil futures reversed gains from earlier in the session, made after the Miami-based US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) issued a hurricane watch for the south Texas coast, which is a key US oil refining area.

However, Emily appeared set to make landfall late Tuesday near the Mexican city of Matamoros, according to the NHC.

“We feel that Hurricane Emily will not hit the southern part of the United States, but will hit Mexico,” said one London trader on condition of anonymity.

“And even though there has been a few shut down, the damage was nothing as bad as we feared.

“It’s the main reason why we’re seeing a sell-off at the moment — Emily hasn’t struck” at oil facilities in the Gulf of Mexico, the trader added.

Elsewhere, Opec on Monday shaved its estimate for growth of world demand for oil this year, saying that the global economy was slowing.

The cut in estimated demand was “due to a slowdown in economic activity in some regions and preliminary demand figures pointing to lower consumption in the first-half of the year”, particularly in China, an Opec report said.

Opec cut its estimate for oil demand in 2005 by 150,000 barrels per day, putting total annual growth for the year at 2 per cent, or an extra 1.62 million barrels per day compared to 2004.—AFP