WTI prices fall on demand worries

Crude oil prices were lower on Tuesday as retail sales for December were reported down and as President George W. Bush, in Saudi Arabia as part of his tour of the Middle East, urged the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to hike production in an effort to make prices lower because if prices remain high the US could suffer economically.

Investors worried that high prices were dampening demand as analysts predicted that Wednesday’s inventories report from the US Energy Information Administration will show that stockpiles of crude oil, gasoline, and distillates were up last week.

The price declines came even though militants carried out another attack against the oil industry in Nigeria, this time bombing the car of a port official whom they accused to covering up previous attacks to make the region seem safer than it is.

The official was not injured, but his driver was killed and a police guard was injured in the attack.

Near the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery had dropped $2.45 to $91.75 per barrel.

Nymex February gasoline was 8 cents lower to $2.29 per gallon while March heating oil had dropped 5 cents to $2.53 per gallon.

March natural gas fell 14 cents to $8.13 per million British thermal units.

Meanwhile, at-the-pump prices for gasoline in the United States dropped 0.9 cent overnight to $3.061 per gallon on average nationwide according to the latest report from AAA.