Gasoline Sell-Off Pulls Down Oil Prices

The price for a barrel of crude fell 2.3 percent to close at $69.71 and the price of heating oil dropped by 2.4 percent.

HEAT USA Price Report
Evening projection (for Monday’s average retail heating oil price per gallon): DOWN $0.04

Gasoline futures prices fell by almost seven percent today, as traders unloaded gas contracts following a major increase in stockpiles announced this week and uncertainty about future demand.  Supply disruptions in Nigeria as a result of rebel activity there and political turmoil in Iran both supported prices today, but were finally outweighed by plummeting gasoline prices.

HEAT USA price experts revised this morning’s prediction of a small increase in Monday’s heating oil prices, instead forecasting a moderate decline in retail prices.