Energy Prices Decline on High Supplies
May 3, 2006
Futures prices for energy commodities on the New York Mercantile Exchange took a breather Wednesday with the price for a barrel of crude oil falling below $73.
High-quality crude oil for June delivery was off $2.33, or 3.1 percent, to $72.28 per barrel. The decline stemmed from news that U.S. oil inventories were unusually high.
Gasoline slipped 9 cents to $2.085, and AAA said early Wednesday that the U.S. average retail price for regular gasoline was $2.917 per gallon, compared with Tuesday’s average of $2.92 per gallon.
Heating oil was down 7.5 cents to close at $2.004 per gallon, and natural gas fell 14 cents to settle at $6.606 per million Btu.