Crude prices lower on demand worries

With new reports showing housing starts and industrial production both down again in the US, crude oil prices fell on concerns that slowing economic growth will cut demand for gasoline and diesel.

Also pushing prices lower were comments from Kuwait’s finance minister who said that oil prices are too high, as well as news that a Norwegian oil platform in the North Sea that was hit by a fire over the weekend could resume production later this week.

July contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were 71 cents lower to $133.90 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange while Brent crude dropped $1.16 to $133.55 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex natural gasoline, heating oil, and natural gas futures were all also slightly lower ahead of the weekly Energy Information Administration inventories report, due Wednesday.

Meanwhile, at-the-pump prices for regular unleaded gasoline and diesel both lost about 0.2 cent overnight, to a national average of $4.078 per gallon for gasoline and $4.795 per gallon for diesel fuel.