Oil down after Saudi Arabia slashes crude price

SINGAPORE, Dec 5 (AFP): Oil fell in Asian trade on Friday after major producer Saudi Arabia slashed the price of the crude it sells to Asia and the United States, analysts said.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for January delivery tumbled 44 cents to $66.37 a barrel in afternoon trade and Brent crude for January dropped 49 cents to $69.15.

"Saudi Arabia has just cut the price of the oil it sells to Asia and the US and this is going to have a big effect on the market today and early next week," said Daniel Ang, an investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore.

Saudi Aramco, the kingdom's state-owned oil company, said Thursday it had slashed its official selling price for Arab light grade oil bound for Asia in January by $1.90 a barrel from December's level. It also reduced the price of Arab light grade oil bound for the United States by 70 cents.