LONDON, Aug 10: World oil prices fell for the third straight day on Friday, with a barrel of Brent below $69 for the first time since June, on concern that energy demand may weaken amid the US sub-prime crisis.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for September delivery fell to $68.95 per barrel — the lowest point since the start of June. It later stood at $69.70, down 51 cents.

On Friday, New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, lost 91 cents to $70.68 per barrel.

MF Global analyst Edward Meir noted that while energy markets had initially ignored the sub-prime crisis, oil prices are now closely linked to broader economic woes.

“Demand (of energy) could be the surprising variable that could warrant more attention in the weeks and months ahead,” he said.

“Should it weaken in the wake of a credit-induced retrenchment, it could undo the various upward price spirals we have been seeing.” The New York contract had soared to an historic high of $78.77 per barrel in trading last week, on news of declining crude stockpiles in the US, the world's biggest consumer of energy.

Crude futures are meanwhile sliding despite the US Department of Energy (DoE) reporting on Wednesday that crude inventories fell by 4.1 million barrels to 340.4 million barrels in the week ended August 3.

The inventory decline was much sharper than forecast. Most analysts were expecting stocks to have dropped by 2.75m barrels.

A decline in US gasoline stocks also caught the market off guard as the government report revealed a surprise 1.7 million barrel decline in motor-fuel inventories. Analysts had forecast a rise of 775,000 barrels.—AFP