Oil prices in Asia fell below $72. Concerns are that global economic growth may slow down in the second half thereby dragging the demand for crude down along with it.

To worsen matters, the U. S. markets were closed on Monday due to the Fourth of July holiday.

There has been a decline of 35 cents in crude benchmark for the delivery. It has come down to $71.79 a barrel at midday, Singapore time on the New York Mercantile Exchange. However, the contract was settled later.

Investors are worrying that there might be a double-dip recession in Europe and the U. S. later this year.

The June jobs turning out to be weaker than was expected, as reported on Friday increased the concerns regarding the U. S. economic recovery and there are thoughts about massive government spending stimulus ends.

Some analysts like Barclays are cutting down oil price despite strong demand for crude from many emerging economies.

In other Nymex trading contracts for August the heating oil have seen a decline of almost 0.55 cent to $1.91 a gallon while a turned down of 1.79 cents for gasoline.