LONDON, Nov 10: World oil prices dropped heavily on Thursday after a jump in US crude inventories signalled that demand for energy was cooling, analysts said. The International Energy Agency followed up the data by shaving its forecast for oil demand growth in 2005 and 2006, though this was having little impact on prices, they added.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, shed 98 cents to $57.90 per barrel in pit deals.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for December delivery dived $1.26 to $55.64 per barrel in electronic trading.

By Thursday, crude oil futures in New York had fallen by more than 18 per cent since reaching a record high of $70.85 on August 30. That was the day after Hurricane Katrina struck the southern United States and severely damaged major oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico.

Prices meanwhile slid on Thursday despite suicide bomb attacks in Jordan.

“Normally, market reaction to an event like yesterday’s explosions in Amman would have caused prices to rise as a result of heightened concern over the security of oil supplies” in the Middle East region, Fimat analyst Mike Fitzpatrick said.—AFP