Price slips from record $53

Friday, Oct. 8, 2004 | 9:20 a.m.

Crude oil fell from Thursday's $53 a barrel record in New York after a Nigerian union said it won't try to shut down Africa's largest oil industry if it joins a national strike next week, easing concern supplies might run short this winter.

The fifth-largest supplier of crude to the U.S., Nigeria pumps mostly low-sulfur oil U.S. refiners need to replenish inventories of heating oil, which were 11 percent less than normal last week. Hurricane Ivan curbed U.S. oil production and refining in the Gulf of Mexico last month.

Crude for November was down 35 cents at $52.32 in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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