Crude falls after three days gains

Crude oil prices fell on Tuesday as well, after three straight days of gains.

The drop in prices came on profit-taking in anticipation of Wednesday’s US inventory data, which is expected to show drops in the stockpiles of both crude oil and gasoline.

Trading volume was light in comparison with last week, however, when prices were on their way to record highs.

West Texas Intermediate on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $2.34 for August contracts to $58.20 per barrel. Brent August contracts on the International Petroleum Exchange in London were down $2.12 to $57.18 per barrel.

Nymex July gasoline futures were down as well, just over a cent to $1.6640 per gallon, while July heating oil futures also fell slightly more than a cent to $1.6630 per gallon.

This sent the price of gasoline higher than heating oil, the normal state of affairs this time of year.

Up until last week, high demand for diesel had kept heating oil prices above gasoline prices.