Oil drops over 1

Oil fell more than 1 on Tuesday after the International Energy Agency IEA cut its forecast for world oil demand growth, saying that the recent surge in oil prices had already hurt consumption. US light crude for December delivery shed 83 cents to 93.79 a barrel, while London Brent crude fell 81 cents to 91.17.

The IEA sharply reduced its forecast for oil demand growth through the rest of 2007 and into 2008, saying oil8217;s march towards 100 was already slowing consumption. 8220;It8217;s not surprising that oil prices are retreating. There8217;s a bit of worry about demand in the US, which has suffered from the subprime crisis,8221; said Lawrence Poole, an energy analyst at Global Insight, a consultancy in London.

The IEA, the adviser 26 industrialised consumer nations which already revised downward its forecasts in October, cut its prediction for fourth quarter demand growth by 570,000 barrels per day bpd and by 180,000 bpd in the first quarter of 2008.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said there would be no OPEC output policy decision at the group8217;s Riyadh summit. 8220;This is not the place to focus on price, incremental production or a decrease,8221; Naimi told a news conference. OPEC8217;s next policy meeting is on December 5 in Abu Dhabi.

The OPEC summit in Riyadh brings together heads of state for the first time since 2000, when oil was at 30 a barrel.