London - Oil prices slumped below $70 a barrel on Monday, hit by falling stock markets, a rising dollar and concerns about demand in China, the world's second biggest energy consuming nation, analysts said.
Brent North Sea crude for November delivery slid $2.58 to $68.74 a barrel in late London trade.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery, shed $2.37 to $69.67 a barrel.
"Prices have come under significant pressure... following weaker equity markets and concerns about the robustness of Chinese oil demand," said Barclays Capital analyst Kevin Norrish.
BNP Paribas analyst Harry Tchilinguirian, cited by Dow Jones Newswires, added: "The dollar is firmer and European equities are down and so oil is trading lower."
A stronger greenback makes dollar-priced oil more expensive for holders of weaker currencies and tends to dampen demand - and prices.
Meanwhile crude oil prices are unlikely to rise significantly this year, unless there are "clear signals" the world economy has escaped from the worst downturn in decades, energy consultancy CGES said on Monday.
The influential Centre for Global Energy Studies (CGES) added in a monthly report that high crude stockpiles were still holding back the market.
"The CGES expects little sustained upward pressure on oil prices over the remainder of this year and even next year prices are unlikely to rise much unless clear signals emerge that world is pulling out of recession in a sustainable fashion," it said in its report.
CGES added: "High inventories, particularly of middle distillates, are putting a ceiling on oil prices at the moment... and this will only lift once those inventories start to be drawn down."
Distillates are moving into focus ahead of the northern hemisphere winter when demand for heating fuel hits a peak.
CGES added Monday that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), which pumps 40% of world oil supplies, was satisfied with the current level of oil prices.
Earlier this month, Opec decided to maintain its production levels as the cartel deemed the market to be "oversupplied".
However oil prices risk rebounding far above %100 unless there is greater investment in energy exploration, the head of French oil giant Total said in an interview broadcast on Monday.
-AFP