Oil prices fall below $55 a barrel

New York: Oil prices fell on Monday in what traders described as a wave of profit-taking after futures hit a new high above $55 a barrel. New York's main crude oil contract slumped $1.26 to $53.67 a barrel yesterday.

The main oil contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, had briefly touched an unprecedented $55.33 a barrel in electronic trading on fears of heating oil supplies in winter.

Prices have surged about $10 in the past month, primarily due to over production and delays in the Gulf of Mexico, hit by Hurricane Ivan in mid-September.

But with the amount of excess capacity and an immediate surplus supply of about 1 per cent of daily demand (now estimated to be above 82 million barrels) any supply outage is expected to factor into prices