Crude prices fall, but US retail gasoline continues rise

Crude oil prices were lower Monday by late morning in New York after having been up slightly earlier in the session, but the retail price for gasoline in the United States continued its upward spiral overnight.

February contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude was 32 cents lower to $82.42 per barrel at around 11:30 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The earlier gains had come on indications that demand is growing in China, as well as on a US dollar that weakened by 1 percent versus the euro and the pound and on demand for heating oil as cold weather gripped parts of the eastern US as far south as Florida.

February Brent crude, meanwhile, was 34 cents lower to $81.03 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Pump prices for gasoline in the United States added another 1.4 cents overnight to $2.749 per gallon on average, to bring price gains to 8.4 cents in the past week while prices were nearly a dollar higher than motorists were paying last year at this time.

Even so, Nymex February gasoline futures were about even in late morning trade at $2.15 per gallon while February heating oil futures had dropped 2 cents to $2.18 per gallon.