Crude prices drop ahead of OPEC meeting

Crude oil prices were lower Monday on wide speculation that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will decide to increase production when they meet next week amid reports that Saudi Arabia has already upped output.

January contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 48 cents to $97.90 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude for January delivery fell 66 cents to $95.10 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London, but only after hitting a new record high of $96.65 per barrel during the session.

Nymex December gasoline dropped just less than 3 cents to $2.44 per gallon, while heating oil traded essentially flat at $2.70 per gallon.

Decreases in demand after the Thanksgiving Day holiday in the United States sent at-the-pump gasoline prices in the US down 0.1 cent overnight to $3.085 per gallon, bringing the drop in pump prices to 2.7 cents in less than two weeks.

Analysts believe that gasoline prices will stay steady or decline unless crude prices breach the $100 per barrel level.