Oil prices fall in markets crisis

Light, sweet crude traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange - the world's benchmark crude price - fell more than four dollars to 97 US dollars a barrel before rising back less than a dollar. The last time the price was below 100 US dollars was April 2.

In London, October Brent crude also fell nearly two dollars to 95.73 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

The falls come in the wake of the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers, which has rocked markets around the world, and reports that put damage from Hurricane as less than feared.

Federal officials said the storm destroyed at least 10 oil and gas platforms and damaged pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico -- only a small amount of the 3,800 production platforms in the Gulf. Three years ago, back-to-back hurricanes knocked out more than 100 platforms.

The price falls come despite last week's agreement from oil cartel Opec to cut back excess production. That saw a brief spike for prices to the 104 US dollar a barrel mark, but they have since fallen back.

Oil prices have fallen nearly a third from the 147 US dollar high seen in July as projections of slower global economic growth have dampened demand.

Petrol prices on UK forecourts have not fallen as quickly as oil, with average unleaded petrol down from July's peak of 119.7p to 112.8p at the weekend - a drop of nearly 6%. Average diesel prices have fallen from 133.3p to 124.2p, just under 7%.

The AA said it takes around four to six weeks for oil price changes to filter through to forecourt pumps.