Crude oil prices fell slightly Tuesday as world demand growth for energy was slowing and crude oil platforms disturbed by the hurricane would operate by the end of September.

Light sweet crude for delivery in October, New York's main contract, plunged by 22 cents to 63.11 dollars per barrel in closing trade.The gasoline for delivery in October rose 2 cents to 1.89 dollars a gallon.

The price of Brent North Sea crude for October delivery fell 19 cents to 61.61 dollars per barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange.

Prices have fallen by more than 10 percent since striking record high points of 70.85 dollars in New York and 68.89 dollars in London on August 30 -- a day after Hurricane Katrina battered US oil facilities in the Gulf of Mexico.

US Interior Secretary Gale Norton said Tuesday about 90 percent of US offshore oil and gas platforms in the gulf should be capable of producing by the end of September, even though some will be constrained by lack of onshore processing capacity.

The US Minerals Management Service announced Tuesday about 43 percent of the region's crude oil output was operating.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Claude Mandil said Tuesday the group's 30-day oil rescue plan, for now, had prevented a global fuel crisis and that an extension of the release was unnecessary.

The IEA board of governors meets Thursday to review the volume and timescale of its release, which includes 1.3 million barrels per day of crude and just under 700,000 bpd of products.

The market will be watching Wednesday to see what further impact Katrina has had on US production when the Department of Energy releases its weekly oil inventories report.

Source: Xinhua