By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Oil prices closed below $100 a barrel for the first time in six months on Monday, tumbling in another dramatic sell-off as the demise of Lehman Brothers and the sale of Merrill Lynch deepened worries about the US economy.
Crude prices shed more than $5 a barrel and had now given up virtually all their gains for the year, extending a steep, two-month slide from record levels above $147 a barrel.
Oil's pullback came as early signs suggested that Hurricane Ike delivered less damage than feared to the Gulf Coast energy oil and gas infrastructure. But pump prices jumped above $1.05 a liter in parts of the US as a precautionary shutdown of Gulf refineries caused gasoline shortages.
The latest sell-off in oil began Sunday and accelerated Monday as traders digested a day of dramatic upheaval on Wall Street: Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., a 158-year-old investment bank, filed for bankruptcy after failing to find a buyer and Merrill Lynch & Co. agreed to be bought out by Bank of America Corp.
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