Oil prices slumped on Monday (12 / 4) for the fourth consecutive session in New York, under pressure from the demand that mediocrity in the United States, the world's largest energy consumer. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for May delivery, fell 58 cents to 84.34 dollars per barrel after the dollar rose above 85 in early trading today. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in London in May shrank six cents to 84.77 dollars per barrel.

New York oil market has the session was "pretty quiet" because prices drifted higher and lower, said Antoine Halff of Newedge Group. "Maybe one that looks just correction profits from two weeks ago," he said.

Oil prices continued to retreat from the peaks reached last Tuesday over 87 dollars for the first time since October 2008. Weekly reports the U.S. government oil stocks, last Wednesday, showed crude oil inventories increased for 10 consecutive weeks.

"Pendulum while sentiment has shifted back toward skepticism that the request is not recovered enough to support current prices," said Mike Fitzpatrick of MF Global. "Last week's inventory report could, at best, only be read as an indication of the energy markets are still fragile."

In earlier trading, oil prices gain encouragement from the report on Saturday which showed that oil imports to grow in China, the second largest energy consumer in the world, amounting to 29 percent in March compared with the previous year