U.S. crude oil price on Tuesday plunged near 4 percent after opening higher at 101.86 dollars a barrel, as a deepening nuclear crisis in Japan triggered a panic sell-off in the commodity markets.
Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Tuesday radiation that has spread from four reactors of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant was enough to "impact human health" and the risk of more leaks was "very high."
The 9.0-magnitude earthquake and ensuing tsunami have also hit demand for oil by shutting down five Japanese refineries. The affected refineries have combined daily capacity of 1.4 million barrels of oil, according to Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average plunged as much as 14 percent Tuesday before closing down 10.55 percent after a 6.18 percent drop on Monday as fears caused risk aversion across financial markets.
And investors worried it would take long for oil demand to recover amid Japan is the world's third largest oil consumer.
Light, sweet crude for April delivery fell 4.01 dollars, or 3. 96 percent to settle at 97.18 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest level in nearly three weeks. In London, Brent crude for April delivery also fell sharply and last traded around 109 dollars a barrel.
