Crude prices well off Monday’s highs

Crude oil prices were significantly lower Tuesday as they dropped from record levels.

West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery dropped $3.15 to $90.38 per barrel by the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange and fell even more after the close in electronic trading, to $89.90 per barrel, while Brent crude on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London was down $2.88 to $87.44 per barrel.

The declines came on sell-offs triggered by uncertainty about what the Federal Reserve will do about interest rates on Wednesday, as Mexican facilities put out of production by bad weather were set to open again, and on expectations that Wednesday’s US inventories report will show that crude stockpiles were higher last week.

Meanwhile, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said again that it is not to blame for the spike in oil prices, putting the cause on speculators and on geopolitical tensions even as Goldman Sachs analysts said that fundamentals, and not speculation, were the reason that oil prices have climbed.

Nymex November gasoline futures were down 7 cents to $2.26 per gallon, while December heating oil dropped 4 cents to $2.44 per gallon.

December natural gas, however, added 5 cents to $8.02 per million British thermal units.