Oil prices crashed more than $8 to a four-month low on Thursday after the world's consumer nations said they would band together to aid the global economy by releasing emergency oil reserves for the third time ever, Reuters reported. Oil prices fell to their lowest since the eruption of Libya's civil war in February stemmed exports from the OPEC member, putting a strain on global oil supplies. The International Energy Agency said it would help ease the strain by releasing 60 million barrels of government-held stocks, immediately increasing global supply by nearly 2.5 percent. The move shocked traders who had been expecting the IEA to give top exporter Saudi Arabia more time to make up for the supply shortfall following OPEC's failed meeting on June 8, when other members blocked Gulf efforts to hike output. "I'm really surprised. Everyone's been saying they've got enough stocks. This should keep WTI (U.S. crude) under $100 (per barrel), but really we want Brent there, and this should help," said Robert Montefusco, broker at Sucden Financial. Brent crude futures for August plunged by more than $8 after the news, nearly its lowest intraday price since Feb. 22. By 11:08 a.m. EDT (1508 GMT) it was down $5.90 at $108.31 a barrel, set for its biggest fall since a deep slump on May 5. U.S. crude lagged the decline but still fell $4.01 to $91.40 a barrel, taking prices more than 20 percent below their early May peak at more than $114, the highest since 2008. Oil markets were already off sharply ahead of news of the release, due to worries over global fuel demand following higher-than-expected U.S. jobless claims, forecasts of lower U.S. growth and evidence of a slowdown in Chinese manufacturing. -- SPA
