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Crude prices slid in Asian trade today, with the end of the US summer driving season seen pushing down petrol demand, analysts said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, shed 56 cents to $74.04 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for October delivery fell five cents to $76.82.
"This year, the end of driving season comes at a time when oil demand is weak and inventories are near or above six-year highs," the Commonwealth Bank of Australia said in a report. Americans traditionally take long drives during the summer holidays, raising demand for gasoline and helping push crude prices higher. The United States is the world's biggest economy.
Traders were now eyeing the ongoing US hurricane season for leads, analysts said
"The US hurricane season still has a couple of months more of disruption risk to go," said Bjarne Schieldrop, an analyst at SEB Commodities Research.
"At the moment the tropical depression Gaston has an estimated 60 to 70 per cent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone with some risk that it might head for the Gulf of Mexico."
