Oil prices firm after striking 17-month lows

Oil prices firmed on Tuesday but were not far from recent 17-month low points amid concern that a global economic slowdown would significantly weaken the world's appetite for energy, analysts said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery added 48 cents to 63.70 dollars a barrel in electronic deals, after hitting 61.30 dollars on Monday -- a level last seen in May 2007.
Brent North Sea crude for December was 13 cents higher at 61.54 dollars. On Monday, the contract had hit to 59.02 dollars, which was the lowest point since February 2007.
Despite slender gains on Tuesday, the price of crude oil has collapsed by almost 60 percent in value since striking record highs above 147 dollars per barrel in July on supply concerns.
"Oil has hit a 17-month low, on speculation that the global financial crisis may slash fuel demand," said BetOnMarkets analyst David Evans, inref-erence to Monday's trading.
"Oil is down more then 56 percent since its July 11 peak and it seems that prices are heading lower after OPEC cut oil demand projections for 2009.
"It seems that the traders that used oil as a hedge against the US economy are now feeling the pain having overlooked the fact that with the world being interconnected, a slowdown in US means a slowdown everywhere else."
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) announced last week that it would cut crude output by 1.5 million barrels per day to 27.3 million bpd starting in November, as the cartel sought to shore up prices.