NEW YORK: The benchmark New York oil futures contract briefly fell below 90 dollars a barrel Monday in Asia after Wall Street's financial meltdown extended to Europe, triggering fears of a global slowdown, dealers said.

In late afternoon New York's main contract, light sweet crude for November delivery, hit a low of 89.96 dollars before rebounding to trade 3.43 dollars lower at 90.45.

London's Brent North Sea crude for delivery in November had already dropped below the 90-dollar mark, on September 16.The Brent contract traded 3.70 dollars lower at 86.55 in late Asian trade on Monday.

World oil prices first broke through the 100-dollar level at the start of the year and touched record highs above 147 dollars in July.