Stronger dollar pushes oil prices lower

Crude oil prices were lower Tuesday ahead of US inventory reports that are due tomorrow and on a stronger US dollar, although it briefly went above the $80 per barrel level for the first time this year in early trade.

November contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude, which were due to expire at the end of floor trade today, were down 59 cents to $79.02 per barrel shortly before the close on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while December contracts were down 84 cents to $79.12 per barrel in afternoon trade.

At last report, meanwhile, Brent crude for December delivery was down 53 cents to $77.24 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex November gasoline futures were down 2 cents in afternoon trade to $1.97 per gallon while December heating oil fell a cent to $2.08 per gallon, but December natural gas added 5 cents to $5.76 per million British thermal units.

Gasoline demand remains week, with consumption up just 0.4 percent from last year at this time, but US Energy Information Administration inventories data for last week, due to be released tomorrow, is expected to show a dip in stockpiles of gasoline as refiners cut back production.

Due to the cutbacks in refining, crude oil in storage is expected to have grown last week.

The retail price of a gallon of gas was 1.3 cents higher overnight, to $2.577 on average across the United States, a gain of nearly 10 cents in the past week.