WTI, Brent see more price declines

The price of crude oil fell again Monday on a 7 percent decline of imports into China in July, due primarily to high prices, which added to concerns about declining demand in the US and other industrialized economies.

Also sending prices lower was a request from Iran’s top nuclear negotiator for further negotiations with the European Union concerning Iran’s nuclear program.

Prices in New York fell as low as $112.72 after earlier gains due to worries about the conflict between Georgia and Russia and disruptions in some shipments because of the fighting as well as to the shutdown of the explosion and fire along an oil pipeline in Turkey last week.

The pipeline is still closed and could remain so for the next couple of weeks, even though the fire is reported to be out now.

September contracts for West Texas Intermediate were down 73 cents to $114.49 per barrel around the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange while at last report Brent crude was down $1.75 to $111.58 per barrel after going as low as $111.07 on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex September gasoline futures were down 5 cents to $2.84 per gallon while September heating oil futures dropped 3 cents to $3.10 per gallon.