WTI, Brent in free fall after Japan slips into recession NEW YORK, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Government data showing the Japanese economy slipped unexpectedly into recession battered crude oil prices in Monday trading. The Japanese government said gross domestic product slipped 1.6 percent in the third quarter. That's in contrast to forecasts of a 0.4 percent decline to 2 percent expansion. Japan started taking on more fossil fuels to compensate for the loss of nuclear power from the 2011 meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi facility. That corresponded with the shift in energy demand centers away from Western economies toward Asia. The shift in global supply and demand dynamics, coupled with slow growth in the eurozone, helped push crude oil prices into a bear market, shedding more than 20 percent of their value since June. Brent, the global price index, was down more than $1 per barrel early Monday to trade near $78 per barrel, extending the slip below the $80 mark that started last week. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, lost nearly $1 to trade near $74.90 for the December contract. Last week, the International Energy Agency projected growth in oil demand from a five-year low of 680,000 barrels per day to 1.1 million bpd next year "as the macroeconomic backdrop is expected to improve."