Crude settles slightly lower

Crude oil prices seesawed up and down all day on Tuesday before settling slightly lower by the end of the trading day.

West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose as much as 21 cents to $63.55 per barrel at early afternoon before settling back to a loss of 23 cents on the day to $63.11 per barrel.

Brent crude October contracts on the International Petroleum Exchange in London was still up by 20 cents to $62 per barrel in the late afternoon, but ended up closing down by 19 cents to $61.61 per barrel.

Trade deficit data showed that the US imported $20.9 billion worth of oil in July, a monthly record and a third of the total trade deficit. This reflected the effect of rising oil prices. Prices on heating oil and gasoline futures were up slightly on the day.

Nymex October contract unleaded gasoline gained 2 cents to $1.89 per gallon, while Nymex heating oil futures for October added 3 cents to $1.84 per gallon on the day. Natural gas was down, however, by 27 cents to $10.76 per million British thermal units.