Oil prices continue slide for fourth day

Crude oil futures sank for a fourth straight day yesterday, settling beneath $43 a barrel for the first time in nearly three months and capping a 14 percent decline for the week.

Market sentiment about the supply-demand fundamentals shifted most dramatically on Wednesday, when prices fell more than 7 percent amid rising inventories of heating oil and mild fall weather in the United States. The selling then fed on itself, analysts said, due to technical and speculative trading.

''The scare is over and that just means the market is going back to where it belongs," said Ed Silliere, vice president of technical research at Energy Merchant Corp. in New York.

Light, sweet crude for January was down 71 cents to $42.54 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange -- about 23 percent below October's peak settlement price of $55.17 per barrel.

The price of oil is still 37 percent higher than a year ago, putting the greatest financial pressure on low-income families, chemical manufacturers, and the airline industry.

Petroleum prices have been high all year due to strong global demand, a tight supply cushion and fears of output disruptions in Iraq, Nigeria, and Russia. In September, a strong hurricane knocked out significant oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, though the region's output is now recovering.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has been producing at a rate of more than 30 million barrels a day since September, analysts say, and that is also easing supply concerns. The cartel meets Dec. 10 and price hawks such as Iran are calling for a reduction in output levels. While analysts do not expect OPEC to cut production, at least for the time being, they say the group could decide informally to take some supply off the market.

Heating oil futures fell by about a penny yesterday to $1.248 per gallon, putting prices 14 percent lower than the beginning of the week and 20 percent below the October peak. The most recent government data show residential heating oil prices averaging $2.02 per gallon nationwide as of Nov. 29. That's about 60 percent higher than a year ago.