WTI drops 86 cents on session

September contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 86 cents to $71.12 on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday, while Brent crude for September delivery fell $1.22 to $69.22 per barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange in London.

The price of crude oil slid as it began to look as if Hurricane Dean would miss US oil production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico and companies began to restart operations where they had been suspended on the chance that the storm would track toward them.

There were still worries, however, that Dean could cause problems for Mexican facilities and send prices back up, while Mexican state oil company Pemex evacuated workers from the Cantarell oil field on Sunday and closed its Dos Bocas export port on Monday as a precaution.

Nymex September gasoline was 10 cents lower to $1.94 per gallon, while October heating oil dropped 4 cents to $2 per gallon.

October natural gas fell 92 cents to $6.20, mainly on relief that Dean would likely not hit Gulf production facilities.