Crude Tumbles More Than USD6 on Stronger Dollar, Pipeline Restart

Crude oil fell more than USD6 a barrel Friday, dropping the most in percentage terms since December 2004, as the U.S. dollar strengthened and BP Plc restored shipments on a Caspian Sea pipeline through Turkey.

Energy futures fell as the rising dollar eased demand for commodities as an inflation hedge. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which moves oil from Azerbaijan through Georgia to Turkey's Mediterranean coast, resumed normal flows Friday after a fire shut it earlier this month, a Turkish official said.

Crude oil for October delivery fell $6.59, or 5.4 percent, to settle at $114.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the biggest drop on a percentage basis since Dec. 27, 2004. In dollar terms, it was the biggest decline since Jan. 17, 1991, when Allied forces expelled Iraq from Kuwait.