Oil Dips Under $50 on Recession Fears

Investors have been brushing off news that earlier in the year would have sent prices higher. Chevron Corp. invoked "force majeure" Tuesday on 90,000 barrels a day of Nigerian production after a pipeline was breached by militants in the Niger Delta. Earlier this week, Somali pirates hijacked a Saudi supertanker carrying $100 million in crude.

In other Nymex trading, gasoline futures fell 7.30 cents to $1.034 a gallon. Heating oil lost 5.33 cents to $1.7064 a gallon, while natural gas for December delivery slid 9.9 cents to $6.644 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Associated Press writers Alex Kennedy in Singapore and Christopher S. Rugaber in Washington contributed to this report.