LONDON, Aug 22: Oil prices slipped back on Friday on profit-taking after bumper gains had been won on the deepening crisis between Moscow and the West over the Russian intervention in Georgia, traders said.New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for October, fell 1.70 dollars to 119.48 dollars a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for October shed 1.65 dollars to 118.51 dollars.

Oil had jumped higher on Thursday, gaining almost six dollars as traders tracked geopolitical tensions between the US and Russia, as well as reacting to a weak dollar and large drop in stockpiles of US motor fuel.

The New York contract topped 122 dollars at one point on Thursday, a level last seen in early August.

Oil prices had earlier got a boost after US gasoline (petrol) reserves slumped by 6.2 million barrels last week, compared with market expectations for a drop of only 2.4 million barrels.

Oil prices had closed up by more than one dollar on Tuesday after Venezuela said it would ask the OPEC at its September meeting to cut production if downward price pressure continued.

Despite recent gains, prices have tumbled sharply from record highs above 147 dollars set in July as weak economic growth dents global demand for energy.—AFP