Crude oil prices drop despite cuts

Crude oil prices fell sharply on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday, moving lower in spite of an OPEC production cut announcement.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries announced a daily cutback of 2.2 million barrels Wednesday, claiming the crude oil market was saturated.

The cuts do not take effect until January, but traders are betting that eroding demand will outpace OPEC’s action.

Instead of pushing up, crude oil prices dropped 10 percent, losing $4.31 to $36.18 per barrel. Heating oil prices fell 0.0465 cents to $1.4035 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline fell 0.0325 cents to 98.75 cents per gallon. Natural gas prices also fell, dropping 0.047 cents to $5.555 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline dropped after two days of increases, falling 0.017 cents to $1.67 a gallon Thursday, AAA said.