Oil Prices Fall on IEA Demand Forecast Cut

As of 9:58 am EDT this morning, the price of crude had fallen 1.2 percent to $57.34 a barrel and the price of heating oil had lost 0.9 percent.

HEAT USA Price Report
Today’s average retail heating oil price per gallon: DOWN $0.02
Morning projection (for Friday’s average retail price per gallon): DOWN $0.01
The International Energy Agency forecast global oil consumption would fall in 2009 at the fastest rate in 28 years.  This sobering news sucked some of the air out of recent hopes for economic recovery and drove down crude and heating oil prices this morning.  New flare-ups of conflict in the Niger Delta also provided support for prices by threatening to disrupt oil supplies from Nigeria in coming days.

HEAT USA price experts confirmed yesterday’s prediction of a small decrease in retail heating oil prices today, and forecast another small price reduction to take effect tomorrow.