Oil prices drop further away from 100-dollar mark

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Oil prices eased further from the historic 100-dollar-a-barrel level on Monday on fears that energy demand in the United States could be hit by the weakness of the world's biggest economy, traders said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, fell 51 cents to USD 97.40 per barrel in electronic deals.

It had struck a record high of USD 100.09 last Thursday.

Brent North Sea crude for February eased seven cents to USD 96.72 per barrel on Monday. Last week it struck an historic peak of USD 98.50.

"Prices fall as weak economic data rekindle fears of recessions in the US," Barclays Capital analyst Kevin Norrish wrote in a note to clients.

"Friday's weak US unemployment report certainly contributed to dampening sentiment in the market and with caution likely to set in ahead of the next OPEC meeting (on February 1), we expect prices to enter a phase of consolidation at this point," he added.

The president of the OPEC oil-producers' cartel said on Sunday that USD 100 a barrel was "not necessarily very high" given demand and higher production costs.

Chakib Khelil, who is also the Algerian Energy Minister, added over the weekend that the current surge in prices was likely to continue through the first quarter.