WTI drops $1.50 per barrel

After going higher early on speculation that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would call an emergency meeting to deal with low oil prices, crude oil prices were lower by late morning in New York. The decline in prices came after the oil minister of Saudi Arabia said that further production cuts would not be necessary. This statement added to a growing feeling that OPEC will not call an unscheduled meeting, even though Venezuela, a member nation, had called for one.

Brent crude February contracts, scheduled to expire at the end of the day’s trade, were 76 cents lower to $52.36 per barrel and then closed out at $52.30 per barrel. March contracts, meanwhile, dropped $1.30 to $52.15 per barrel. February delivery West Texas Intermediate crude fell $1.43 to $51.56 per barrel in late morning trade after going as low as $51.15 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Later in the day, WTI had dropped to $51.48 per barrel, $1.50 lower than its previous close. Nymex gasoline was 4.3 cents lower to $1.38.90 per gallon, heating oil dropped 2 cents to $1.4860 per gallon, and natural gas was 2.9 cents lower to $6.572 per 1,000 cubic feet.