World oil prices eased further from the historic $100 dollar a barrel level this morning.
In afternoon trade, New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February was 71 cents lower at $97.20 a barrel.
The contract had dropped $1.27 dollars to close at $97.91 dollars a barrel on Friday trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent North Sea crude for February was down 51 cents at $96.28 dollars a barrel.
The figures come after weak US employment data fanned worries about recession and demand in the world's biggest energy consumer,
On Thursday, the benchmark New York contract hit $100.09 dollars, and Brent touched $98.50 dollars during intraday trade.
The president of the OPEC oil-producers' cartel said yesterday that $100 dollars a barrel is "not necessarily very high" given demand and higher production costs.
Agencies