Finotec

U.S. crude oil futures fell sharply on Tuesday as Wall Street tumbled after a record quarterly loss at Citigroup Inc and a surprise drop in December retail sales further fueled recession fears

U.S. crude oil futures fell sharply on Tuesday as Wall Street tumbled after a record quarterly loss at Citigroup Inc and a surprise drop in December retail sales further fueled recession fears. "All signs point to a recession, which could be a precursor to demand destruction," said Nauman Barakat, senior vice president at Macquarie Futures USA in New York.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said his country was ready to raise output when the market needed more oil. Global economies were growing despite oil prices ranging between $90 and $100 a barrel, Naimi said. Earlier, President George W. Bush urged Saudi Arabia to help tame soaring oil prices which threaten the U.S. economy, saying exporters should help get more crude into the market. Bush said he would raise his concerns about high oil prices face-to-face with his Saudi host King Abdullah, ruler of the world's biggest oil exporter, at the monarch's desert getaway later on Tuesday.

Crude prices retreated even with Iran's dispute with the West over Tehran's nuclear program, the ongoing threats to Nigeria's oil infrastructure and Turkish warplanes attacking Kurdish guerrilla targets in Iraq.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration's inventory data for the week to Jan. 11 is forecast to show a 600,000-barrel rise in crude stocks, a Reuters poll of analysts showed. A January future contract on the crude oil traded around the levels of 91.350$ a barrel at 06:21 (GMT).