Crude oil prices lower ahead of inventories report

At the close of trade on Tuesday, November contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude oil were trading at $80 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a decline of 24 cents for the session.

Brent crude for November delivery was also lower, falling 31 cents to $77.32 per barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange in London.

The decline came as investors figured that demand will drop during the month as refineries do pre-winter maintenance work and on the possibility that with the US dollar gaining ground again, the demand for commodities prices in dollars will decline.

Prices were also down ahead of Wednesday’s weekly US inventories report from the Energy Information Administration, which is expected to show a decline in crude oil stockpiles in the week ending 28 September.

Nymex November gasoline contracts traded even at $1.98 per gallon, while November heating oil dropped 2 cents to $2.16 per gallon.

November natural gas, however, added 38 cents to $7.43 per million British thermal units.