Crude oil, natural gas both down

Crude oil and natural gas prices fell on the New York Mercantile Exchange, with natural gas falling to a two-year low on slumping demand.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration this week estimated a drop in natural gas demand of 1 percent for 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. Some of the decline could be attributed to heating systems switched to heating oil. Stockpiles of heating oil rose by 6.3 million barrels in the week ending Jan. 9.

Crude oil prices dropped 71 cents Thursday $36.57 per barrel. Heating oil prices gained 0.0285 cents to $1.4916 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline rose 0.0175 cents to $1.1852 per gallon. Natural gas prices dropped 0.01 cents to $4.96 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $1.799 Thursday, up from Wednesday’s $1.792 a gallon, AAA said.