WTI, Brent drop more than $6 per barrel

A report from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries which predicts oil demand growth will slow next year and concerns about the US economy sent crude oil prices lower Tuesday.

West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery traded as high as $146.73 per barrel and as low as $135.92 per barrel during the session before settling at $138.74 per barrel at the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a decline of $6.44 over Monday’s close and the second-largest dollar decline for Nymex oil in history.

August contracts for Brent crude, meanwhile, were down $6.33 to $137.59 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

A number of factors affected oil prices, including comments from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke before the Senate Banking Committee in which he said that there are risks both for inflation and economic growth in the United States economy presently.

In addition, the Commerce Department reported that retail sales were up by only 0.1 percent in June, while the Labor Department issued new data showing that US producer price were up 9.2 percent in the year ending in June.

The OPEC report on demand growth said that global oil demand will rise by 900,000 barrels per day next year after going up by 1 million barrels per day this year.

Nymex August gasoline futures were down 7 cents to $3.48 per gallon while September heating oil fell 1 cent to $4.10 per gallon and September natural gas dropped 55 cents to $11.50 per million British thermal units.