SINGAPORE, March 14: Brent crude fell more than $1 on Monday to below $113 on investor pessimism that economic growth will slow in the wake of Japan's earthquake and tsunami, while easing unrest in the Middle East threw the focus back onto ample oil supplies.
Prices of U.S. natural gas rose 0.6 percent on expectations that Japan will need to buy significant amounts of fossil fuel to compensate for the loss of an estimated 9,700 megawatts (MW) of nuclear electricity generating capacity after the 8.9-magnitude earthquake on Friday.
April Brent fell as much as 1.1 percent to $112.55 and was down 86 cents at $112.98 at 2346 GMT. It slid $1.59 on Friday, when Japan's strongest earthquake on record shut refineries and other industrial plants in the world's third-largest oil consumer. U.S. crude fell $1.50 to $99.66.
"The market is really taking the view that this is going to slow down economic growth," said Jonathan Barratt, managing director at Commodity Broking Services in Sydney.
Police presence across cities in top oil exporter Saudi Arabia sputtered planned "day of rage" protests on Friday, while in neighbouring Bahrain the crown prince offered assurances of national dialogue on Sunday after police fired tear gas and water cannon at demonstrators.
"The day of rage wasn't so bad, and these are all concerns that are in the background. Japan is more real," Barratt said.
Arab countries appealed to the United Nations on Saturday to impose a no-fly zone on Libya as government troops backed by warplanes fought to drive rebels from remaining strongholds in western Libya.
Muammar Gaddafi's troops battled rebel fighters for control of the strategic Libyan oil town of Brega on Sunday, as France promised to push harder for a UN-backed no-fly zone over what used to be Africa's third-largest oil producer, before a civil war slashed output by at least two-thirds.
Japan battled on Monday to prevent a nuclear catastrophe and to care for millions of people without power or water in its worst crisis since World War Two, following Friday's natural disaster, which is feared to have killed more than 10,000 people. - Reuters
Prices of U.S. natural gas rose 0.6 percent on expectations that Japan will need to buy significant amounts of fossil fuel to compensate for the loss of an estimated 9,700 megawatts (MW) of nuclear electricity generating capacity after the 8.9-magnitude earthquake on Friday.
April Brent fell as much as 1.1 percent to $112.55 and was down 86 cents at $112.98 at 2346 GMT. It slid $1.59 on Friday, when Japan's strongest earthquake on record shut refineries and other industrial plants in the world's third-largest oil consumer. U.S. crude fell $1.50 to $99.66.
"The market is really taking the view that this is going to slow down economic growth," said Jonathan Barratt, managing director at Commodity Broking Services in Sydney.
Police presence across cities in top oil exporter Saudi Arabia sputtered planned "day of rage" protests on Friday, while in neighbouring Bahrain the crown prince offered assurances of national dialogue on Sunday after police fired tear gas and water cannon at demonstrators.
"The day of rage wasn't so bad, and these are all concerns that are in the background. Japan is more real," Barratt said.
Arab countries appealed to the United Nations on Saturday to impose a no-fly zone on Libya as government troops backed by warplanes fought to drive rebels from remaining strongholds in western Libya.
Muammar Gaddafi's troops battled rebel fighters for control of the strategic Libyan oil town of Brega on Sunday, as France promised to push harder for a UN-backed no-fly zone over what used to be Africa's third-largest oil producer, before a civil war slashed output by at least two-thirds.
Japan battled on Monday to prevent a nuclear catastrophe and to care for millions of people without power or water in its worst crisis since World War Two, following Friday's natural disaster, which is feared to have killed more than 10,000 people. - Reuters
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