Commodity Online.
SINGAPORE : World oil prices continued to fell in Asian trade Thursday, after a brief recovery, nearing $ 50 a barrel mainly on concerns of sinking energy demand.

Crude oil for December delivery fell as much as 80 cents, or 1.5%, to $52.82 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 10:35 a.m. Singapore time. Wednesday, futures touched $52.79 a barrel, the lowest since Jan. 23, 2007.

Brent crude oil for January settlement fell as much as 82 cents, or 1.6%, to $50.90 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange.

It was at $51.10 a barrel at 10:48am Singapore time. The contract yesterday declined 12 cents to $51.72 a barrel, the lowest settlement since Jan. 11, 2007.

Oil has dropped 64% since reaching a record $147.27 on July 11.The more active January futures contract was down 63 cents, or 1.2%, at $53.47 a barrel. December futures expire at the close of trading Thursday.