OIL prices continued to slide yesterday on lingering concerns about economic stability in Europe and a possibly slowdown in China's robusteconomy.

Benchmark oil for December delivery fell US$1.90 to US$80.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its lowest settlement price in a month. The price has fallen US$7.23, more than 8 percent, in the last four trading days as the global economic issues took center stage.

But natural gas, rose 21.2 cents, or 5 percent, to US$4.030 per 1,000 cubic feet. The 5.6 percent gain was the largest since Sept. 3.

Oil investors have been selling because they're more concerned about a slowdown in demand in Asia and Europe. A new U.S government report showing inventories of oil, gasoline and distillates all fell last week couldn't overcome that negativesentiment, analysts said.

That overshadowed the second-straight bullish report on oil supplies from the Energy Department, which said commercial crude oil inventories fell by 7.3 million barrels to 357.6 million barrels for the week ending Nov. 12.

Just a week ago, a report of a surprise 3.3 million barrel drop in inventories was enough to push oil to a two-year high near US$88. But since then, China's government has announced food subsidies for poor families to try to stall a double-digit surge in prices and ordered banks to increase reserves to curb loan growth. The Chinese government is trying to slow down robust economic growth and head off a bout of inflation.

U.S. gasoline inventories declined by 2.7 million barrels to 207.7 million barrels while inventories of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 1.1 million barrels to 158.8 million barrel.

The drop for both oil and gasoline was larger than expected by analysts, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. For distillate fuel, analysts had predicted a drop of 1.8 million barrels. All three products remain at levels higher than the average range for this time of year.

European leaders are working to help Ireland, which is struggling after a collapse in the housing market forced the country to take over three large banks. A financial bailout of Greece earlier this year put pressure on commodities and raised concerns about diminished demand.

Oil prices likely will remain under pressure until there is more clarity on the situations in China and Ireland, said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates.

He and Mike Zarembski, a seniorcommodity analyst at OptionsXpress Inc., both believe the slide is more of a correction than a long-term trend. They say there is still ample demand for energy products in China and other parts of the world.

In other Nymex trading in December contracts, heating oil fell 5.91 cents to US$2.2519 a gallon and gasoline slipped 0.22 cent to US$2.1579 a gallon.

In London, Brent crude gave US$1.45 to US$83.28 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• economy [i´kɔnəmi] n.经济；机制；组织 (初中英语单词)
• barrel [´bærəl] n.(琵琶)桶；圆筒 (初中英语单词)
• overcome [,əuvə´kʌm] vt.战胜，克服 (初中英语单词)
• sentiment [´sentimənt] n.情绪；多愁善感 (初中英语单词)
• energy [´enədʒi] n.活力，精力；能力 (初中英语单词)
• commercial [kə´mə:ʃəl] a.商业的 n.广告节目 (初中英语单词)
• survey [´sə:vei] vt.&n.俯瞰；审视；测量 (初中英语单词)
• european [juərə´pi:ən] a.欧洲的 n.欧洲人 (初中英语单词)
• working [´wə:kiŋ] a.工人的；劳动的 (初中英语单词)
• financial [fi´nænʃəl] a.金融的，财政的 (初中英语单词)
• greece [gri:s] n.希腊 (初中英语单词)
• pressure [´preʃə] n.压榨 vt.对...施压力 (初中英语单词)
• delivery [di´livəri] n.送交；分娩；交货 (高中英语单词)
• concerned [kən´sə:nd] a.有关的；担心的 (高中英语单词)
• gasoline [´gæsəli:n] n.汽油 (高中英语单词)
• negative [´negətiv] a.否定的 n.否定词 (高中英语单词)
• ending [´endiŋ] n.结尾，结局 (高中英语单词)
• ireland [´aiələnd] n.爱尔兰 (高中英语单词)
• collapse [kə´læps] vi.&n.崩溃；病倒；衰败 (高中英语单词)
• senior [´si:niə] a.年长的 n.前辈 (高中英语单词)
• commodity [kə´mɔditi] n.日用品；商品 (高中英语单词)
• gallon [´gælən] n.加伦 (高中英语单词)
• stability [stə´biliti] n.稳定；巩固；坚定 (英语四级单词)
• trying [´traiiŋ] a.难堪的；费劲的 (英语四级单词)
• correction [kə´rekʃən] n.改正，纠正，修改 (英语四级单词)
• robust [rəu´bʌst] a.强建的；茁壮的 (英语六级单词)