Lagos — The panic in Aso Rock over unprecedented fall in oil prices worsened on Thursday as the commodity sank to $72, the lowest in 14 months, leaving the Presidency with a renewed determination to look beyond oil into other major means of revenue.

Oil prices whittled down this low on August 31, 2007 and these values are now half of the peak they reached on July 11, 2008.

For over 54 years of oil discovery, other major means in which proceeds come into the government's purse have been jettisoned and a source who told Daily Independent of the new drive by the government disclosed that efforts have been made to focus on gas exploration, and rejuvenation of coal, cocoa and other cash crops.

Nigeria like other 12 members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has not hidden the danger that this threatening fall portends for her economy.

Daily Independent had last Thursday exclusively reported the panic in the Presidency over threat that the price fall has for the nation's 2009 budget, which has been benchmarked at $62.5.

Both the Minister of State for energy (Petroleum), Odein Ajumogobia and the Special Adviser to the President on Petroleum Matters, Emmanuel Egbogah have in different interviews confirmed that steps are been taken to address the issue.

While Ajumogobia, Nigeria's representative at OPEC, declared to support crude production slash on behalf of the government "to balance the market," Egbogbah told Daily Independent that efforts have been made on the exploration of 600 trillion cubic feet of gas deposit in the country.

"There may be a need to intervene to balance the market, if the price slide seemingly predicted on demand and over-supply continues," Nigerian Oil Minister Odein Ajumogobia told Reuters.

"The global energy trend is equally evident in Nigeria and steps are being taken by the Federal Government to harness the huge potential of gas through the Nigerian Gas Master-plan initiative," Egbogah added adding that beyond "the resource potential, Nigeria also has a significant gas market potential. The export LNG market has seen tremendous growth lately. The Bonny NLNG is one of the world's fastest growing LNG facilities. Currently there are six operational trains with scope for an additional train. The current export capacity from this plant is about 22 million tones per annum."

Declaring that Nigeria was now ready to supply gas to the West Africa sub-region, the Special adviser added that there "is already a signal of growing demand in the region in the order of about 600 million cubic feet per day."

Meanwhile, oil prices dipped to the lowest price in 14 months over concerns that the economy overrode growing expectations that the OPEC could opt to cut back production in an effort to shore up prices.

Light, sweet crude for November delivery was down US$2.44 to US$72.10 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by noon in Europe. The contract fell overnight US$4.09 to settle at US$74.54, the lowest settlement price since August 31, 2007.

"The market is just very worried about a severe international economic downturn," David Moore, a commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia said adding "They are thinking that oil consumption will be weaker than expected."

Investors were discouraged on Wednesday by a U.S. Commerce Department report that showed retail sales dropped in September by 1.2 percent, a sign that turmoil in the credit markets has begun to slow consumer spending. Later in the day, the Beige Book, the assessment of business conditions from the Federal Reserve, said that the economy continued to slow in the early fall.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average was down nearly 10 percent on Thursday while the Dow Jones industrials plummeted 733 points Wednesday, or 7.9 per cent, its second-largest point loss ever.

"If we are in the grips of a severe downturn, it's very hard to pick where things will bottom," Moore said. "There's the potential that bad economic news will continue to rattle markets."

Trader and analyst Stephen Schork linked Wednesday's downward turn to macroeconomic trends.

"The Dow tanked and the dollar rallied," he said in his Schork Report.

Investors are beginning to anticipate an output cut by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries at its next meeting in November in a bid to boost prices.