The oil price would continue its downslide and would probably reach the level of US$25 a barrel, analysts was quoted as saying by local media yesterday.

"I don't think the downside is over," Phil Flynn, vice president and senior market analyst for the Chicago-based Alaron Trading Corp, told the Los Angeles Times. "There is a lot of surplus oil out there."

Flynn said that "US$25-a-barrel oil is not out of the question" and that there was no reason "why one-dollar gasoline isn't possible."

But Fadel Gheit, senior energy analyst for Oppenheimer and Co., told The Times the price of oil won't stay down.

"Some of the same clowns who were predicting US$200-a-barrel oil a few months ago are in the crowd predicting 25 dollars a barrel," Gheit said. "But just as we believed that oil above US$100 was not sustainable by market fundamentals, oil below US$30 isn't sustainable either."

Amid predictions of further decreases, the average price of a gallon of self-serve unleaded gasoline in Los Angeles fell to its lowest level since January 2004 on Tuesday, dropping 1.9 cents to US$1.801.

The average price has fallen for 84 consecutive days, dropping US$1.966 over that span, including 1.8 cents from Sunday to Monday.

The average price had been at its lowest level since February 2004 before yesterday's decline.

The lower prices reflect a steady decline in crude oil prices caused by lower demand associated with the worldwide economic downturn, less use of gasoline -- partially the result of conservation by drivers -- and reduced speculation by futures traders, said Jeffrey Spring, public relations manager of the Automobile Club of Southern California.

The price of a barrel of light sweet crude fell 74 cents to US$42.97 in early trading yesterday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, 71 percent less than the record high of US$147.27 et on July 11.

Analysts attributed yesterday's decrease to doubt among investors that an expected major cut in production by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would end the price decreases.