Oil drifted below $70 a barrel on Friday, after Mexico's Gulf oil rigs suffered only minor damage from Hurricane Dean and in response to fears of a U.S. economic slowdown.
U.S. light crude for October delivery fell nine cents to $69.74 a barrel by 1000 GMT. U.S. crude had gained 57 cents on Thursday, ending a three-day losing streak that had knocked prices to their lowest since late June. London Brent crude lost 21 cents to $69.65 a barrel.
"The oil market is drifting into an anemic mode," said Olivier Jakob, of oil consultancy Petromatrix.
"There are currently no Tropical storms on the radar screen, no real expectations on the next OPEC meeting, no significant supply disruptions or new geopolitical developments, no clear consensus on equities."
The lack of storm damage had shifted the emphasis back to selling U.S. crude futures and buying Brent, particularly given an increase in crude oil stocks in the U.S. last week, he said.
Mexico's Gulf oil rigs have already restarted production in the Bay of Campeche in the aftermath of Hurricane Dean.
State energy monopoly Pemex, one of the top three oil suppliers to the United States, produced 342,000 barrels of crude oil in the region on Thursday.
The company had shut in around 2.65 million barrels a day of output as Hurricane Dean had approached earlier this week.
Two of Mexico's three main oil shipping ports reopened on Thursday after being closed as Dean swept through the Gulf of Mexico.
(Reuters, 24/08/2007)