Crude prices retreat on profit-taking

Crude oil prices fell on Thursday after Wednesday’s major increases as investors took profits.

The declines were helped by an announcement from ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) that a refinery fire in Texas had caused no interruptions in production and by gains in the US dollar against both the euro and the pound.

Near the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, January contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude had dropped $2.09 to $92.30 per barrel, while Brent crude for January delivery was down $1.30 to $92.72 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex January gasoline was also lower, dropping 5 cents to $2.37 per gallon while January heating oil was down 3 cents to $2.62 per gallon.

US at-the-pump gasoline prices dropped another half-cent overnight to $2.985 per gallon on average nationally and are now down almost 13 cents from their mid-November peak.

March natural gas fell 16 cents to $7.34 per million British thermal units even though inventories data from the US Energy Information Administration showed that natural gas inventories in the US were down by 146 billion cubic feet in the week ending 7 December.