LONDON, July 24: World oil prices fell slightly on Thursday but held close to $125 per barrel, as Libya said it would halt fuel supplies to key energy customer Switzerland.

Libya is a member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the cartel that supplies about 40 per cent of the world’s crude oil.

Crude futures had slumped on Wednesday by about $4 a barrel after a bigger-than-expected increase in US gasoline reserves amid weaker demand in the United States, the world’s biggest energy consumer.

“Given the huge fall recently, there has been increasing talk the oil prices may have peaked,” said Sucden analyst Michael Davies.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery, lost 25 cents to $124.19 a barrel in electronic deals on Thursday.

Brent North Sea crude for September delivery eased 14 cents to $125.15 in early London trading.

Libya said on Thursday it would stop fuel supplies to key oil client Switzerland in the latest reprisal for last week’s brief detention in Geneva of Hannibal, a son of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.

The General National Maritime Transport Company and the Port Authority said in a joint statement they had “decided to halt Libyan oil tankers carrying oil products to Switzerland.”

The state-run companies also decided to “bar Swiss ships from unloading or entering Libyan ports,” it added.

An official with the transport company told AFP the decision was taken on Wednesday but was unable to say if it had yet been enforced.

Crude oil prices have shot to a series of record highs this year, partly because of political tensions surrounding oil producing nations, notably in Iran over its nuclear programme.

However prices have tumbled by about $22 since striking record heights above $147 a barrel on July 11.

They also slumped on Wednesday as Hurricane Dolly in the Gulf of Mexico veered away from offshore oil installations.

—AFP