The price of oil fell dramatically on Monday and settled below $100 for the first time since March, declining $5.47 to $95.71 per barrel.

This comes just two months after oil hit a record high of $147 a barrel in July. Today’s drop in the price of oil continues a downward trend that began several days ago, said John Kingston, director of oil for Platts, an energy information provider.

Friday marked the first time crude had slipped below $100 in intraday trading since last April.

Damage caused by Hurricane Ike to oil infrastructure in the Gulf over the weekend was less severe than expected, which helped to pull the price down.

“The fact that Ike didn’t cause extensive damage has definitely pushed the market down,” Kingston said. “I think gasoline is more leading crude down.”

The plunge in price is also related to turmoil in the American financial markets. The bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers (LEH) and Bank of America’s (BAC) buyout of Merrill Lynch (MER) has worked to make investors uncertain about future energy demands, said Kevin Kerr, editor of Global Commodities Alert, a New York-based trade alert service.

“There’s a general malaise in market because of Lehman and Merrill, and that general negativity and bearishness has transferred into commodities,” Kerr said.

Wholesale gasoline prices dropped 21 cents per gallon to $2.55, but Kerr expects to see the price of gasoline and crude diverge in the coming weeks. 

“I would expect to see gasoline ratchet higher because we’re short on supply of gasoline and of heating oil because of refinery outages,” he said. “Refineries don’t need crude oil because they’re not up and running at full tilt.”

The decreased demand for crude oil from refineries that are offline should help drive the price down, while pushing gasoline prices higher.

If the economy continues to slow, both in the U.S. and around the globe, demand for crude could fall significantly--dragging prices down along with it.

“Now that we’ve broken $100, I think the next stop is going to be $90," Andy Lipow of Houston, Texas-based Lipow Oil Associates, told FOX Business Network. “Clearly, people are unloading their commodities, and I think one reason is just to raise cash.”

Lipow argued that the price of gasoline will continue to fall as crude prices slip.

“You’re going to have to give it a couple of months,” he said. “Prices are going to come down, it’s going to take four to six weeks to start trickling down--maybe not that long, but I think we’re going to get to $3 now.”