WTI drops, is expected to decline further

The price for West Texas Intermediate crude was lower in New York Monday, and analysts predicted that prices would continue to fall throughout the week and could go as low as between $50 and $55 per barrel soon.

August contracts for WTI fell 20 cents to $59.69 per barrel by the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange after going as low as $58.32 per barrel earlier in the session, while Brent crude added 18 cents to $60.70 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Among the factors pushing prices lower was a declaration from US regulators, who said they are going to be aggressive in stopping excess speculation in energy and other commodities markets.

Late last week the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said it would enforce new position limits on futures contracts on all commodities that have limited supplies, but would especially seek to impose limits on energy futures.

Currently, the only position limits set on energy contracts come fro the futures exchanges, not the CFTC, but the regulatory commission does set limits on some agricultural futures.

Nymex August gasoline futures dropped a cent to $1.64 per gallon while Nymex heating oil was down 3 cents to $1.50 per gallon and Nymex natural gas was 11 cents lower to $3.27 per million British thermal units.