Oil prices fall on concerns of Dubai debt crisis

NEW YORK, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Crude fell on Friday, with the prices slumping the most since January during the session, as world financial markets were rattled by Dubai debt crisis.

U.S. crude market, which was closed on Thursday because of the Thanksgiving holiday, jointed the global selling spree and tumbled as much as 7 percent in the early trading on Friday.

As Dubai asked lenders for a six-month reprieve on payments for about 60 billion U.S. dollars in debt, investors were worried that the debt problems in the middle-east emirate would spill over to the world, hampering the global economic recovery. However, oil rebounded from earlier lows during the session as investors weighed that the damage might be contained.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery finally dropped 1.91 dollars, or 2.5 percent, to settle at 76.05 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In London, Brent Crude for January delivery recovered after Thursday's drop and gained 19 cents to settle at 77.18 dollars a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.