World oil prices have fallen below 60 usd per barrel as Tropical Storm Emily appeared to be easing and levels of US crude inventories were deemed sufficient, combining to reduce supply concerns about the fourth quarter, analysts said. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, dropped 37 cents to 59.64 usd per barrel in electronic dealing. In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in August slid 50 cents to 57.77 usd per barrel. The market "is reacting to the fact that Tropical Storm Emily appears to be moving away from the production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico", said Victor Shum, an analyst with US energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz. Fears that Emily could hit the Gulf, home to the majority of US crude production, had pushed New York's main contract up 1.70 dollars on Tuesday. Prices began falling on Wednesday after the US Department of Energy said US crude oil stocks had fallen by 3.9 mln barrels to 321 mln barrels in the week ending July 8. Although the drop was above analysts' consensus forecast for a 3.0 mln barrel reduction, levels remained well above average for the time of year. Crude stocks fell largely as a result of Tropical Storm Cindy, which forced a shutdown of production in the Gulf of Mexico. The impact of Hurricane Dennis would be seen in next week's inventories data, after the deadly storm forced the evacuation of Gulf oil rigs last weekend. Pushing prices down also was DoE data showing US distillates, including heating oil, rose by a higher-than-expected 3.2 mln barrels to 120.4 mln barrels last week. Prices last week hit record peaks above 62 usd per barrel on concerns about possible shortages of heating fuel when the northern hemisphere winter begins at the end of the year, owing to storms and hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico.