Oil prices drop as worries ease about hurricane damage

    NEW YORK, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Crude prices fell Monday as Hurricane Dean headed toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and away from the U.S. energy facilities along the Gulf Coast.

    As supply worries faded, concerns about the battered stock market's drag on global demand came to the forefront once more.

    Light, sweet crude for September delivery fell 86 cents to settle at 71.12 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

    However, the crude contract finished up from its intraday low of 70.05 dollars a barrel, after a Mexican oil company said it was halting production and as the Dow Jones industrials rebounded from earlier declines.

    In London, September Brent crude dropped 59 cents to settle at 69.85 dollars a barrel on the ICE futures exchange.