Oil prices dropped below $79 a barrel in Asia as a fierce storm is threatening oil installations on the Gulf of Mexico. Benchmark crude was down 83 cents to $78.60 a barrel in Singapore which was also trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Hurricane Ida weakend Monday as it got ever closer to the Gulf Coast oil facilities, which has gave some relief amid fears it could disrupt supply when its expected to reach land later Thursday. The damage to production facilities is expected to be minimal said Galena, Illinois-based Ritterbusch and Associates in a report.

As the dollar weakened on Monday, the Contract rose $2 to settle at $79.43 resulting in crude being cheaper for investors with other currencies. On Monday the Euro rose above $1.50, but dropped to $1.4980 in early Asian trading from $1.4991, the previous day while the dollar dropped to 89.76 yen.

In other trading Natural gas for December delivery slid 8.0 cents to $4.59 per 1,000 cubic feet whilst heating oil fell 2.47 cents to $2.04 a gallon and Gasoline for December delivery dropped 1.98 cents to $1.96 a gallon.

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