Crude sees slight declines

Crude oil prices fell slightly on Tuesday as investors took profits after recent gains to nearly $110 per barrel.

Declines were limited, however, by an announcement from Iran that it intends to step up its uranium enrichment activities and is currently testing equipment that will allow them to do that.

May contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude was down 34 cents to $108.75 per barrel in afternoon trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange after oscillating between gains and losses during the morning session, while Brent crude for May delivery dropped 18 cents to $106.96 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex May gasoline futures dropped 4 cents to $2.75 per gallon while at-the-pump gasoline prices in the United States fell back slightly from recent record highs but remained 55 cents higher than they were last year at this time.

Diesel prices were up slightly again.

Nymex May heating oil traded virtually unchanged at $3.09 per gallon while May natural gas gained 5 cents to $9.84 per million British thermal units.