Brent, WTI drop more than $2.50 per barrel

Crude oil prices continued to decline on Thursday as the US dollar strengthened and on the possibility that the Federal Reserve has ended its current round or interest rate cuts.

In addition, worries that demand will decline were heightened by a Labor Department report that first time jobless claims in the US were up more than expected last week, while the strike against ExxonMobil’s (NYSE: XOM) Nigerian operations ended.

In midday trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, June contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were $2.57 lower to $110.89 per barrel, while Brent crude for June delivery had dropped $2.34 to $109.02 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

At last report, Nymex June gasoline was down 7 cents to $2.84 per gallon while June heating oil was 6 cents lower to $3.10 per gallon and June natural gas had dropped 31 cents to $10.54 per million British thermal units.