Brent crude trades below $60 per barrel

Crude oil prices were trading around the $60 per barrel level after falling below that earlier in the session.  Prices have fallen more than $17 dollars since they peaked in August, the largest decline over a similar period in over 15 years.  Much of the declines have come as the summer driving season in the US ended and it appears that supplies of gasoline and heating oil are plentiful.

Also helping the prices drop are a much less active hurricane season than had been anticipated and less of an emphasis on conflicts in the Middle East.  Another piece of good news for the sector was an announcement on Friday by BP that it would be reopening most of its Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, oilfield this week, ahead of its earlier estimates of a late-October restoration of production.

Brent crude November contracts were 61 cents lower to $59.79 per barrel in late trade in London, after having gone as low as $59.32 per barrel early in the session and despite a brief rise above $60 per barrel late in the day.  West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was down 15 cents to $60.35 per barrel in the early afternoon in New York after having fallen to $59.52 per barrel earlier in the day.